


Space Cadets

by TheatrePhantom



Series: Cadets [2]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Alien Technology, Alien/Human Relationships, Aliens, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, IN SPACE!, M/M, Outer Space, Romantic Friendship, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, Space Battles, Space Flight, Tags May Change, The Resisty Resisting Against the Irken Empire (Invader Zim), Violence, ZADF, ZaDr, and they were roommates!, there was only one bed...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 60,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25813864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatrePhantom/pseuds/TheatrePhantom
Summary: It took a great deal of time and effort for Dib and Zim to finally form their friendship. Now that they have, though, Dib wants to help Zim the way that he helped Dib, whether that means proving their worth to the Armada or overthrowing it. That’s just what friends do.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Cadets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872922
Comments: 131
Kudos: 137





	1. Wrong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aifizao](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aifizao/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making a plan is difficult when you don't know what you want- or, more accurately- when you don't want to acknowledge what it is that you want.

Zim had never truly expected a friendship for Dib to form, let alone flourish as exponentially as it had. As it turned out, though, that’s precisely what happened. Their friendship quickly grew from a mutually reluctant allyship to something deeper and more genuine. Over the year, they began to not only accept but enjoy the presence of the other and it wasn’t long before their friendship was just as strong as their hatred for one another once had been. After hours of time and energy spent dedicated to destroying the other, it was an absolute shock to both of them that their current friendship was so genuinely loving. 

That was in the past, though.

While not much time had  _ actually _ gone by, they had far more important things to think about- including readying Zim’s ship for space travel that could support a human. 

Humans were incredibly different from Irkens in several ways. While Irkens functioned better with food and did  _ technically _ need to eat, they didn’t need to eat nearly as much nor as frequently as humans, nor did they require sleep. Their paks filtered out any and all waste, converting everything non-harmful that they ingested to energy. Due to this, they didn’t need to excrete their waste in the ways that humans did and had little to no need for bathrooms. In several ways, the cruiser was  _ far _ from ready to carry both of them as well as their robotic companions off into space. 

The lack of preparation was one of the numerous reasons that Zim had been hesitant about bringing Dib along with him. Not only did the ship not have a great deal of the things that Dib would need to survive out in space for an extended period of time, but Zim also had no clue how to ensure Dib’s safety out there. The universe was, in many ways, an absolute wild card, even with his superior Irken knowledge of the galaxies. Dib’s body was far more fragile than his, and the human had  _ no _ experience of space travel, let alone exploration of other planets. There was no certainty that Dib would be  _ safe _ out there. 

Zim’s human counterpart refused to take no for an answer, though. After quite a bit of debating, arguing, and convincing, Dib managed to wear Zim down enough to get him to agree to bringing him along. 

In all honesty, Zim was absolutely thrilled to have Dib as a space companion. It would make completing nearly every task that he came across far easier and more entertaining. Having someone who he enjoyed spending time with who was  _ also _ competent would make his life far simpler. More than that, though, he didn’t want to leave Dib behind. He had grown far more attached to him than he would like to admit, and leaving the human behind on his home planet while he braved the cold, lonely void of space without him seemed… terrible. He didn’t want to go anywhere that Dib couldn’t, even if he worried about doing so.

That being said, there was much that they would have to do to prepare before they could go off. They would have to create a sustainable source of clean and fresh food and water for Dib and make several alterations to the ship to accommodate the extra person and his needs. There was quite a bit of work that needed to be done- especially taking into consideration the fact that Zim had some upgrades in mind for the cruiser. 

For now, Zim would have to focus all of his time and energy on preparations. He had no time to worry about what he would do once they got out there or even what he  _ wanted _ to do once they left this planet. He didn’t have any reason to worry about those things, though. He certainly wasn’t worried about how they would handle things and what he was feeling. The thoughts that flitted through his skull meant nothing- and he wouldn’t have the time to analyze them, even if they  _ did _ mean something. 

Despite the nauseating feeling of all of his different concerns swirling around within him, Zim wasn’t going to let his thoughts linger on their actual… “mission” for too long. He hadn’t worked out the details- how could he when he had such little time? It was difficult to decide on what they needed to do when Zim wasn’t even sure what it was that he wanted. If he let himself think about it for too long, his mind would fill with thoughts of revenge, bringing the Tallests endless pain and suffering for what they had put him through. They had  _ abandoned _ him, casting him aside like he was nothing more than a useless  _ defective _ . They  _ deserved _ his wrath.

On the other hand… they were his own kind. He had looked up to them throughout so much of his life that it felt almost overwhelmingly wrong to think that way. Wanting revenge for everything they had inflicted upon him over the years felt natural and unnatural all at once- he wasn’t  _ supposed _ to feel this way. He wasn’t supposed to want to hurt his rulers. 

As an Irken Invader, he wasn’t supposed to feel so conflicted about the situation.

Zim shook himself roughly, pulling himself out of his thoughts- something that he had found himself doing incredibly frequently as of late- before tugging his goggles down to cover his gleaming eyes. He had to get back to work. He had to  _ focus _ . There was nothing wrong. He was simply letting himself get too into his own head- everything was  _ fine _ .

He had nothing to worry about except his current work.

~~~

It became clear to Dib early on that something was going on with Zim, and Dib couldn’t blame him. It had been more than a little stressful and complicated when he was having similar issues with his father. There was an absolute storm brewing within Dib before they talked about what was wrong between the two of them. As much as he wanted to make his father proud and prove himself to the man, he didn’t want to give up what he loved. Feeling as though he couldn’t make his father happy without giving up a big part of himself was… difficult, to say the least. It left him feeling broken and torn between two things that were incredibly important to him. 

While the Tallests weren’t exactly paternal figures in Zim’s life, they still meant a great deal to the Invader. Making them proud and proving himself to them was the driving force behind a great many of his decisions not long ago. Zim looked up to them with even greater reverence than Dib felt towards his father- or anyone else in his life, for that matter. Much like Dib, Zim did his best to please his leaders and bring pride to the Irken Armada, but, no matter what he did, nothing was ever good enough. 

Dib could relate to what Zim was going through, at least in a sense, so he could really empathize with the alien and the situation he was in. 

What made even more sense to him was Zim’s apparent desire to not discuss it. 

It  _ did _ confuse Dib more than a little, but he understood completely when taking Zim’s history into consideration. The alien had never been known for being particularly  _ savvy  _ in the emotional department. He struggled with his emotions and expressing them a great deal, so the fact that he was attempting to stay silent about something that inspired as much emotion and pain as this made sense, to some extent. 

That being said, Dib was almost certain that it wasn’t healthy.

Dib never thought the day would come when he would worry about the emotional state of the alien that had been sent to his planet to destroy it, but, like so many other things in his life, that had changed.

Between the two of them, Dib was far better with emotions than the Irken was, but, when compared to the others in his species, he was severely lacking in that department. Dib had a difficult time expressing his emotions openly, the majority of his emotions coming out as something more like agitation and anger rather than what he was truly feeling at the time (though it  _ was _ frequent that DIb found himself irritated or angered by his classmates), but that didn’t mean that he was a complete novice in the area. He may have struggled with emotions, but he knew enough to pick up on the “subtle” changes in Zim’s attitude.

In all likelihood, Zim wouldn’t take kindly to being antagonized about what he was feeling in regards to their strange situation, but Dib knew that, if he waited for the alien to come to him, he would be waiting forever, so he pushed aside the slight trepidation and approached his friend about his concerns.

"You've been... distracted, lately." The phrase wasn't really  _ true _ \- Zim was incredibly focused on the tasks at hand- but it  _ was _ incredibly obvious to Dib that there was something going on in the strange alien's mind, and that seemed like a good way to start up the conversation. 

"Eh?" Zim barely looked up from his work, not bothering to remove the thick, purple-tinted goggles that he wore.

"Something's up."

" _ Many _ things are up. The ceiling, the sky-"

" _ Metaphorically _ up, you-" Dib sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead, "Listen, I can  _ tell _ something's bothering you, so just tell me what it is."

Zim tensed, though that response was far from shocking. The alien wasn't too keen on displaying signs of "weakness" in most situations. Considering the fact that Dib could practically  _ feel _ the nerves radiating off of Zim the past few days was a clear indicator that this was one of the many situations in which that was true. 

"Nothing is wrong, Dib-Beast. You are imagining things." 

Dib leaned against Computer’s control pannel, ignoring him when he muttered angrily about the human doing so, “Zim… what exactly is the plan, here?”

Once more Zim hesitated on his work, but, unlike before, he didn’t go back to it. Instead, he removed his goggles and set them aside, letting out a deep sigh as he spoke, “I… I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look. This shit is back.


	2. What's in a Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It may be far easier to form a plan and make decisions when you know what you want, but that doesn't change the fact that life and the world gets in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dib is such a Chaotic Neutral in this chapter- and in general, I suppose.

“Well…” Dib began, biting his lip. To be completely honest, he wasn’t too surprised that Zim didn’t actually have a plan in mind. A lot of times, Zim’s plans would either be incredibly strange or he would have a vague idea and go with the flow from there- though that was something that was slowly beginning to change for the better. “What exactly is it that you want from this?”

All along, the plan had been to find his leaders and make them proud- or, at least, that’s what Dib had assumed Zim would want to do, based on everything he had done over their time together. Despite this, it didn’t seem like that was necessarily what Zim wanted, anymore, and Dib couldn’t blame him. Personally, he was a bit resentful towards the Tallests for everything they had done to Zim over the years, but, just as Dib had wanted to mend the relationship between him and his father, Zim had initially seemed to want to fix things. 

It was a complicated situation. 

Zim just sighed at the question, “I don’t even know, anymore.”

“What?” That… wasn’t the answer Dib had been anticipating. 

“I’m  _ supposed _ to be loyal to the Armada for eternity- to only leave them once I  _ die _ . Irkens aren’t  _ supposed  _ to rebel against the Armada. I’m  _ supposed  _ to serve the Armada until I die on the battlefield,” Zim gritted, “As a soldier of the Armada, I’m not supposed to turn against and destroy my own kind because they’ve hurt me. Only defectives would even consider doing something so heinous!”

“But you want to.”

“Of  _ course _ I do! I want to make them pay for what they’ve done to me.”

Dib nodded. That made a lot of sense, and, truthfully, Dib wanted to do the same thing. “Then let’s make them regret what they’ve done.”

Zim gave him an incredulous look, “Do you even know how dangerous that is?”

“And it was dangerous for me to try to destroy the highly advanced alien who came to tear apart my planet, but I did that, anyways,” Dib pointed out, “I’m not scared of a little risk.”

“If you were smarter, you would be,” Zim deadpanned. 

“Well, luckily for you, I’m not,” Dib ignored the insult. Right now, he was just focusing on trying to make his friend feel better, “You know my stance on the Armada already- I  _ don’t like them _ . They sent you to destroy or enslave my planet and they’re doing this shit to people all across the universe. I don’t exactly want to just let them continue their reign of terror just because my planet isn’t in immediate danger, anymore. Besides,” Dib gave Zim a genuine smile, “You’re my best friend, I’m not going to let you do this alone.”

Zim met Dib’s gaze with a stoic one of his own before breaking and reluctantly giving his friend a small but not ingenuine smile of his own, “Fine. Thank you, Dib-Thing.”

~~~

It wasn’t easy coming to terms with the fact that Zim was willing to do what he had been conditioned to shun throughout his entire existence. Maybe it was because his closest companion appreciated and valued differences so much that Zim was able to decide to go through with this, or perhaps it was a combination of his own intense sadness and anger, but, either way, he was finally beginning to form a plan. 

Knowing what it was that Zim wanted out of this mission and actually accepting it made it far easier to lay out the groundwork for their strategy. 

Going up against something as big and powerful as the Irken Armada was  _ far _ from an easy feat. The Armada had hundreds of thousands of soldiers to its name and that number only grew as necessary. They could make solders nearly as fast as they lost them and their soldiers were nearly flawless- they were manufactured to be that way and mistakes in the pattern were few and far between. Beyond that, the overall technological prowess of the Armada far surpassed that of most other species in the galaxy. While there were several other planets and nations that had made similar advancements throughout the years, few of them used them as well as the Armada did and the years of careful planning and attacking gave the Armada a great advantage. 

That was why Dib and Zim would need the help of an outside force. 

“The…  _ Resisty _ ?” Dib’s voice was dubious and laced with doubt. 

“Yes.”

“That is  _ the dumbest _ -”

“Yes, yes, I know the name is terrible,” Zim waved away Dib’s words before he was even able to finish speaking them, “That doesn’t change the fact that they’re one of the few groups that dare to go against the Armada.”

“Are them  _ good _ at it?”

“Considering the fact that the Armada is still so prevalent? No, not really.”

Dib deadpanned.

“They may not be the most  _ competent _ beings, and I  _ loathe _ the idea of stooping to working with a group like them, but it’s a start,” Zim tilted his head to the side, “Attacking the Armada as we are would be a suicide mission. At the very least, if we join the Resisty, we’ll have a decent starting point.”

Dib nodded, contemplating Zim’s point, “I mean, it’s definitely better than nothing, I guess… we’ll need  _ someone _ on our side if we want to have a fighting chance in this.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to change the group for the better, and make them an actual threat. With our intellect and knowledge on the Armada’s current state, we could be a great asset to them. Perhaps it will actually become something worthwhile.” While Zim said this with confidence, he felt very little certainty about this. The Armada was a terrifying power that loomed above the entire universe. 

“And if we can’t?”

“Then we'll have to find another way.”

~~~

There were many times that Dib found himself staring up at the sky, gazing into space with longing and intrigue in his eyes. The shimmering stars that littered the inky grey that hung so heavily above him seemed infinite and, despite knowing some of the horrible things that it held, gave him hope. The glimmering, endless unknown was something he wished for. He desired to be out among the stars, seeing and learning things. 

He just never anticipated it happening like this. 

Dib had always believed- or hoped- that his big adventure would come, one day. He knew that, eventually, he would go into the world- or universe- and do something important. He would learn and experience things unimaginable. Instead of being trapped within a town where no one around him trusted or respected him and what he did, he would be on a far-off planet, doing something that mattered to him, with the stardust that he came from. He would see everything that there was to be seen and he would be seen as well. Dib would be known. 

The roof above their garage was the perfect place for Dib to lie while he stared off into the depths of space, fantasising about what may be. 

Now, those fantasies seemed far closer and more possible than ever before. 

His best friend was an alien- an alien who wanted to overthrow a power-hungry dictatorship alongside him. Suddenly, Dib felt as though he could do something important for and with someone who appreciated him for it. Someone actually wanted his help. Someone was giving him the opportunity he had wanted for years. 

That didn't mean that it was without complication, though. 

Dib still had one year of school remaining and he still lived with his father and sister. Membrane may not have been the most present of parents- something that he  _ was _ working on- but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t notice if Dib completely disappeared for an extended amount of time. While Gaz may or may not care about where Dib went off to,  _ she _ would certainly notice he had left. If he went galavanting off through the galaxies, people would notice, and it wasn’t as though Dib could just  _ tell _ them where he was heading off to. 

Since honesty obviously wasn’t going to work out, his only options were to either leave without informing anyone first or make up some other excuse for why he would be leaving and where he would be going. Neither sounded like particularly good plans to Dib. 

If he up and left, his family would never forgive him and he could ruin their lives. They would almost definitely end up looking for him and, while it seemed easier to avoid the topic completely, it would cause more harm to his family than he was willing to deal them. 

On the other hand, coming up with a decent lie would be a bit difficult- even for someone like Dib. There weren’t many good explanations for why Dib would disappear with Zim- someone who he had been mortal enemies with not too long ago- for an indeterminate amount of time in some strange location where contact was practically impossible. It didn’t seem likely that his father would agree to Dib going anywhere with Zim for such a long time that it would interfere with his grades and the idea of him being unable to communicate with his family would probably even more worrying to them than it was for him. He didn’t even know how long they would be gone, and, while the end of the school year was quickly approaching, Dib suspected that they wouldn’t be returning to Earth before the end of Summer. Joining a resistance against and overthrowing an incredibly powerful dictatorship that had control of the majority of the universe and had had such power for several centuries wasn’t something that they could get done in a weekend. It would definitely take a long time for them to do and Dib had no confidence that his father would allow him to be gone for such a long time without knowing any specifics about it. 

This situation would really be far easier if Dib had already graduated high school and had more time to dedicate to this, but it would be another year before that happened and he didn’t want to force Zim to wait for that long- he wasn’t even sure if the alien would be  _ willing _ to wait that long.

Even without the difficulties of deciding upon how he would deal with his own planet before leaving, there were many complexities that went along with their mission, making it a massive challenge for the two of them. 

No matter. Dib had never been one to shy away from a challenge and he wasn’t going to let that start now. He had something far more important on his hands and he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of what he and Zim needed (and wanted) to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote some of this on my phone while lying in the grass and waiting for a meteor shower. Good vibes.


	3. Unstoppable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib isn't having second thoughts about the mission, but he certainly is a bit confused as to how it will fit with the rest of his life.

“You’re doing  _ what _ ?” Gaz cracked open one eye, fixing Dib with a killer stare that told Dib that she thought he was an absolute moron, and he supposed that was a fair assumption on her part. 

They were together in the living room, sitting on opposite sides of the couch as they discussed what was going on. Although Gaz had been initially playing her game before Dib began discussing his plan, she had ended up pausing partway through the story to listen to him, staring at him hard as he spoke instead of busying herself with whatever game she had been playing. Dib, on the other hand, held a pillow in his lap, using it to prop his elbows up on while he spoke for a brief period of time, but mostly using it as a sort of grounding, comfort object as he somewhat nervously thought about how he would go about the situation. 

“I know it’s a ridiculous and complicated plan, but we’re really set on it-  _ I’m _ really set on it!” Dib gestured dramatically, “It’s a convoluted plan, but it means a lot to me that I do this- or at least  _ try _ to.”

“Dad’s never going to let that happen.”

“I know.”

“What the fuck are you even planning on telling him.”

Dib groaned, dropping his face to bury it in his pillow, “I don’t know.”

“Shocker,” Gaz rolled her eyes. 

“Hey!” Dib snapped his head back up, frowning, “I think through most of my plans! This one’s just… way bigger than I’m used to.”

“Saving the entire  _ universe _ from some powerful dictators who have been terrorizing everyone for  _ years _ with your boyfriend at seventeen years old is  _ pretty _ big and  _ really _ stupid.”

Dib deadpanned at the comment, but sighed, knowing it was absolutely true. “Yeah, but I feel some weird responsibility to do this, and I  _ want _ to do this, you know? I feel like this is something I’m meant to do. This could be really good for me…. This just isn’t the ideal time or situation for it to start,” he muttered quietly, “I always assumed that, when something like this happened, I would have more time to plan and I would be older.”

Gaz unpaused her game, going back to playing it in the background, though it was clear that she was still giving Dib and his situation her attention, “That sounds like a good reason to  _ not _ do it.”

“When am I going to get this opportunity again?”

“I dunno, next year? Your boyfriend is an alien- why don’t you just tell him that you want to wait until after you graduate to go on a trip like that?”

Dib hesitated for a moment, thinking about it. That  _ was _ certainly a possible option- at least something he could  _ consider _ . He wasn’t positive that Zim would be willing to wait that long, though, and he didn’t want Zim to feel like Dib was abandoning him, either. After everything he had gone through with his leaders, he wouldn’t be surprised if Zim took offence to Dib wanting to wait for their plan.  Even if Zim didn’t respond negatively to the proposition, Dib felt like putting it off that long could create problems for them. What if they lost motivation or lost their chance? 

On the other hand, the extra time could be a great asset. It would give them more time to prepare and work on the ship before heading out and facing the terrors of deep space. It would also allow Dib to finish high school- something that he  _ did _ genuinely want to do- and would likely lead to slightly less resistance from his father about him going “abroad” for an indeterminate amount of time. It would make things less complicated as far as leaving his life behind- at least for a while, he wasn’t too keen on  _ completely _ abandoning his life, just yet.

Dib closed his eyes, shoulders slumping. Just deciding one  _ when _ they would focus on this was difficult. 

“What do you even plan on doing if you don’t wait?”

“I guess I’d tell dad I’ve been invited to study abroad somewhere,” Dib leaned his head on his fist, “It isn’t perfect, but at least it will explain why I’ll be gone for so long and, if it’s related to school or science, he’ll be more likely to allow it.”

Gaz hummed, “What about school.”

“ _ Theoretically _ I could cram study for all of the classes that I would need to take next year and try to test out of them this Summer before we go.” Even  _ that _ created problems, though, considering Dib wasn’t sure what timeframe he was working with.

“Sounds complicated.”

“Not as complicated as overthrowing a space dictatorship.”

“You do shit like this way too much.”

“Probably,” Dib hesitated for a moment, “So, any suggestions on what I should do?”

Gaz hummed, “You should see if you can wait until next year. It’ll make things easier for all of you.”

Dib nodded, pondering. There were a lot of pros and cons for either decision, “I’ll have to think about it…”

~~~

Zim, on the other hand, was working on cultivating their plan. 

Knowing that they were officially going to be going up against the Tallests meant that they had to plan incredibly carefully. Both Dib and Zim could be a little reckless every once in a while, but, in general, they weren’t idiots. They knew when they had to be careful and when they were able to- or  _ needed _ to- jump into battle.

This was  _ not _ one of those times. 

Taking on the entire Irken Armada was… far from a simple task. They would have to be incredibly stealthy and careful. They would have to be a step ahead of them for this to work and  _ that _ meant starting out strong. 

The chances of the Tallests checking in on Zim as damage control were… minimal. They had made their opinions of him and his abilities abundantly clear the last time he had called them, and, after  _ that _ ordeal, he was fairly confident that they wouldn’t check in on him ever again. Despite that, the chance was still there, so, in an attempt to cover their tracks, Zim would set up something to block their signal from others in the Armada once they left, leaving the still working tracking devices on their current planet. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to clear them from suspicion immediately. If they all thought he was still on Earth, they wouldn’t anticipate him still being a threat- hell, it was likely they wouldn’t see him as a threat even if he  _ wasn’t _ on Earth (a thought that made his blood boil). 

Regardless, it seemed like a safer plan than not doing anything with his current technology. As it was, they could easily triangulate his position and find where he was no matter where in the universe he was located. While working for the Armada, it was for safety and ease of communication. For someone completely outcast from all Irken kind, it was… less beneficial. He couldn’t risk the Armada knowing their location.

To prevent that, he would have to alter his pak. 

The process shouldn’t be too difficult- Zim  _ had _ been a scientist before he became an Invader, after all- but, if he wasn’t careful, it could cause some serious damage. Paks were incredibly resilient, but they were still the most important part of an Irken, and it wasn’t like Zim could go and see a specialist for help if anything went awry. 

It would be a bit more difficult to work on his own pak, but he wasn’t going to back down from the challenge. It was important and he was the great Zim- he would not be deterred from something so dire. 

Despite Zim’s excitement, though, his feelings regarding the matter were still… complicated, to say the least, though he was slowly beginning to feel less trepidation about what they were going to do.

His feelings towards the Tallests and the Irken Armada as a whole had not changed in the least. He still wanted them to suffer intensely for what they had put him through, and he still felt guilty about feeling that way. He still couldn't help but see himself as defective for even being _willing_ to go against them. The mission to stop their reign of terror still seemed more like an unreachable goal as opposed to something that the two of them could actually accomplish- with or without the help of the Resisty.

Having Dib on his side, though, giving Zim his full support, made everything so much easier to deal with, despite how strange it was. Zim was glad to have Dub’s support on this mission of his. With him, he felt like he could pull this off, despite how insane it was. He felt unstoppable. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Opinions on what Dib should do?


	4. School Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib has decided upon what he needs to do. He just needs to talk to Zim about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a tad shorter than I anticipated, but I really wanted to get the chapter out tonight, so... here you go.

It had taken a bit of consideration on his part, but, in the end, Dib decided that, one way or another, he would have to finish school before they went on this expedition. It would make things easier when- or  _ if _ , more accurately- he came back to Earth permanently to live out his life as a normal, functional adult. Even if he  _ didn’t _ do that, though, it would be beneficial to him. At the very least, it would make his father less of a problem in the situation and would be less suspicious to the public. 

He just had to decide how to go about doing that.

Going to school next year and finishing everything up would certainly be easier than trying to teach himself everything online over the three months of Summer he had- he had tested out of a few classes in the past and, while it hadn’t been too  _ difficult _ , it had certainly been a painfully boring and  _ long _ experience that he didn’t necessarily want to go through again.  _ Plus _ the concept of attempting to test out of a  _ full year  _ of advanced and AP classes over the course of the Summer seemed… a bit overwhelming. 

Regardless, Dib didn’t exactly want to wait and he was far from the dumbest kid in his school. He was very capable as far as school went and the likelihood of him being  _ capable _ of getting through the year via testing out over the Summer was at least  _ decent _ . It was possible, even if it would be a long and complicated process.

Dib wasn’t completely certain how he wanted to go about finishing his final year of school, but he was leaning towards attempting to finish it over the Summer, just for the ease of it. What he  _ did _ know for sure, though, was that he  _ did _ want to finish his last year. 

With his mind made up, Dib decided to take a trip to the base of his best friend and worst enemy to discuss things with him. 

While Dib planned on still completing his final year, he knew that Zim still needed to know about what was going on. If he ended up still needing to actually take his last year for whatever reason, their mission would end up being on hold for a great deal of time. Besides, Zim was Dib’s friend and was part of this as well. He deserved to know what Dib was planning on doing. 

Zim’s response to Dib’s plan was likely going to have  _ some _ impact on his decision. Dib didn’t exactly  _ anticipate _ Zim reacting negatively, but it was still a chance regardless. Considering how important their mission was to Zim and everything that it stood for, he would understand Zim not wanting to wait for too long before going or even being a little opposed to Dib not giving it his full attention. 

Regardless of how the alien responded, though, he deserved to know and DIb wanted to tell him what he planned on doing, so, without too much more thought, he made his way to Zim’s base. 

~~~

Zim wasn’t too surprised to see Dib- since their friendship became stronger, they spent quite a bit of time together and dropped in on one another unexpectedly rather regularly. Between working on projects and merely hanging out for the fun of it- something strange for an Irken- they spent quite a bit of time together. Especially now that they had taken on their biggest project yet, they found themselves in one another’s company somewhat frequently and Zim had no complaints about it. The regularity of them getting together didn’t stop Zim from feeling somewhat excited to see Dib again.

“Hey, Space Boy.”

Zim tilted his head to the side in response, “Dib-Thing.”

“I need to talk to you about something that  _ might _ have some impact on our mission.” There was slight apprehension in Dib’s voice, making Zim frown in mild concern. 

“What is it?” Zim couldn’t help the nerves that tingled in his veins as Dib said that. Was Dib worried he wouldn’t be able to safely go off into space with Zim? Would his family not allow his departure? Was Dib ill? Had something bad happened? While Zim normally wouldn’t immediately jump to pondering the different negative possible outcomes of a scenario, the combination of the fact that it was in regards to a mission that was so important to him and the strange look on Dib’s face, Zim couldn’t stop the slight concern that something was wrong with Dib that would halt their entire mission.

“The final year of school is really important on Earth and I plan on finishing mine,” Dib explained, “I know that that would normally mean that we wouldn’t be able to leave on our mission as soon as we’d like to and that this complicated things a bit, but I could technically finish everything that I need to do online over the Summer. If I take that route, it shouldn’t cause too much of an issue for us, but it is  _ really _ important that I do this before we go.”

Hearing Dib’s words, all of Zim’s concerns about what the human could possibly have to say melted away from him. Dib wanted to finish school before he left? That was  _ no _ problem compared to some of the thoughts that had raced through his head when Dib gave him that look and said it would impact their mission. Zim couldn’t help but let out a little snort in reaction to the truth. 

Dib’s face scrunched up in confusion at Zim’s reaction to his words, “What?”

“Wanting to finish school  _ really _ isn’t a problem, Fool-Boy,” Zim chuckled, “School is like Irken training, so wanting to complete it makes sense- it’s important for you to do so.”

Dib quirked an eyebrow, “You  _ really _ think that  _ Earth school _ is important?”

“The people attending and teaching your classes may be incompetent and they may cover unimportant topics  _ constantly _ but it  _ is _ important for you humans. According to my research, school can greatly impact the rest of your life. Like I said- it’s like training for you, so it really isn’t a problem. Besides,” Zim crossed his arms and leaned back, “A school year is, what, one-hundred-eighty days? That’s  _ nothing _ . I can wait.”

Dib seemed to relax a bit, the tension releasing from his shoulders, “Good. I’ll still try to test out over the Summer because I don’t really  _ want _ to wait that long, but there’s still the chance that things won’t work out there and we’ll have to wait anyways.”

Zim nodded, “I, the kind and benevolent Zim, shall help you in your studies while you prepare for “testing out” of your final year.”

Dib snorted, lips quirking up into a smirk, “Appreciated.”

“Good. You  _ should _ appreciate me.”

There was a small bout of laughter from Dib before he spoke again, tone becoming slightly serious once more, though he didn’t seem too concerned about whatever it was he was about to bring up.

“There  _ is  _ another thing that we’ll have to deal with before we can go, though- aside from fixing up the ship, obviously.”

Zim’s antennae twitch inquisitively, “Eh? What would that be?”

“My dad.”

Zim sneered slightly at the mention of Dib’s father. Although Dib and his paternal unit had begun working towards forming a decent relationship and Dib’s father seemed to be genuinely trying his hardest with his offspring to make them feel loved and accepted, Zim still wasn’t very fond of him. Perhaps he had simply not gotten to know him very well, or perhaps it was lingering disdain, but he still disliked the man. It didn’t come as a great surprise to Zim that he would throw a wrench into their plan. 

“Don’t get your lekku in a twist, it isn’t a big deal,” Dib rolled his eyes, seeming somewhat amused by Zim’s reaction to the very mention of his dad, “We just need to come up with a lie to tell him to explain why I’ll be gone and where.”

“Er…” Zim trailed off, wracking his brain. As much as Zim liked to think of him as a master of everything, he wasn’t very good at lying- especially on the spot. Although this particular situation allowed him some time to think it over, he still tended to have a difficult time coming up with lies that seemed reasonable. 

Dib chuckled, sensing Zim’s uncertainty, “I know you’re shit at lying, don’t worry.”

Zim let out an affronted noise at that, but Dib ignored him and continued to talk. 

“If we go with something relating to science or school, I don’t think we’ll have too much of a problem with it, I’m just not sure how to go about it,” Dib stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trenchcoat, digging around in the pockets absentmindedly as he thought aloud, “I could say that I’m going abroad with you because we were both invited to participate in some study thing, but he’d probably look into whatever “event” it was that I made up to explain me going to a “foreign country”.”

Zim thought for a moment, “You could say that I will be returning to my country of origin for a special project regarding something along the lines of cultural differences.”

Dib brightened slightly, catching on immediately, “And you invited me along to help with the project!”

“Precisely! Does that sound believable enough.”

“Well, since we won’t be saying we were invited to something through  _ this _ country, it would be difficult for my dad to look into this mystery opportunity of ours. If we said we were invited because of something that happened through the school, he would  _ definitely _ see through that. This is a little more tricky, though. Plus, since it’s educational and has to do with something pretty “normal” he’ll probably be fine with it,” Dib grinned, “I take it back, that was a pretty good idea.”

“Of course it was!  _ I _ came up with it, after all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dib rolled his eyes but let out a good-natured chuckle, “Thanks for the idea, Space Boy.”

“Anytime, Dib-Beast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every one of you who responded to my question are, apparently, good kids and said that Dib should finish school, first, so that’s what he shall do! Since I planned on having the first story in this series (Math Cadets) being the more… academic one in the series and having this one be more of the “fun space adventures” one, I don’t plan on focusing TOO much on him finishing school, so don't worry about this being too repetitive.


	5. Working Towards the Goal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib didn't know what to expect from telling Membrane about their "plan", but he certainly didn't anticipate the answer he got.

Dib decided that he would, at the very least, make an  _ attempt _ at finishing up his classes for his senior year of school online that Summer before they made their way into space. Unlike before, though, now that Dib had Zim’s full support, either way, he was far less stressed out about what would happen. Dib felt far less pressure about finishing all of his classes before the end of the Summer, even if that  _ would _ make things far easier for the both of them. He didn’t have to worry about their plans falling apart if he wasn’t able to get through all of his classes quickly and he wouldn’t have to choose between finishing his schooling and going on adventures with his best friend. He was relieved. 

Beyond that, though, there was one benefit that Dib had never actually anticipated coming when he and Zim initially came up with the lie they would use for Dib’s father.

It had taken a great deal of time and consideration to figure out what exactly it was that Dib was going to tell his father. As much as Professor Membrane’s actions would suggest otherwise, he wasn’t a complete moron, so they would have to be careful about how exactly they phrased it. Dib would actually have to plan out his lie in advance at least slightly so that he could ensure everything would go smoothly when he actually brought it up.

Apparently, the lie that they had spun about Dib being invited along with Zim to work on some study in Zim’s home country (something that they hadn’t thought of before talking to Membrane about it and had to come up with on the spot (the situation  _ finally _ made Dib thankful that he had taken that AP Geography class a few years back)), had worked incredibly well. So well, in fact, that Dib’s dad actually offered to  _ help him _ with getting through his classes over the Summer. 

Dib hadn't been quite sure what he _was_ expecting from this situation, but it certainly wasn't _that_.

Of course, it was a  _ massive _ workload that Dib would be taking on for the next few months- classes at Astra Academy were difficult enough to get through successfully when you had an actual teacher giving you instructions and had the full nine months of school to get through it. Regardless, Dib had been slightly taken aback by his father’s offer. 

Membrane was far from the most present father in the world (that was a  _ massive _ understatement) and he had rarely helped either of his kids with schoolwork throughout their lives. Sure, when Dib and Gaz had been younger and struggling with something in particular, he would help them with their studies, but that had been  _ years _ ago. Dib could hardly remember the last time his father had helped him  _ or _ Gaz with anything related to school.

Perhaps it was the fact that this would likely be more difficult than anything Dib had done for school before (the more likely answer), or perhaps it was because Membrane was making attempts to reach out to his children and be a good dad after he had opened up to him about it (the answer Dib  _ hoped _ was correct). Either way, Dib couldn’t help but feel…  _ happy _ that his father had offered to help him with something like that. For the first time in a very long time, it felt like Membrane was actually trying to be a decent father for him and Gaz. The tiny spark of hope that flared within Dib’s chest gave away how excited the genuinely was about the situation- and how relieved he was that Membrane had taken his words from months ago seriously. 

He was  _ trying _ . No matter what his intentions were, Dib’s dad was trying and that was all that mattered to him. 

~~~

Zim had told Dib that he fully supported him completing his studies before the left, and that was absolutely true. It definitely put a bit of a hold on their plans,  _ but _ there was much that had to be done before they could even think about going. In many ways, the extra time they would have from this made it easier for the two of them.

At least, in  _ some _ ways, it did. 

The Dib wasn’t able to dedicate much time to working on preparing the ship and forming their plans with his attention focused on his studies- something that Zim completely understood and supported- but  _ damn _ it was difficult to figure out what to do to the ship to make things suitable for the human without the  _ actual _ human’s input on it. 

Unlike humans, Irkens didn’t produce waste when they consumed things. Everything they ingested was utilized by their paks with no need to expel any extra nutrients and such the way that humans did. The only times that they  _ did _ produce waste was when they became incredibly ill or had issues with their paks that lead to digestive issues, leaving them vomiting their food up rather than being able to use all of it. 

This happened incredibly rarely, though, and was so uncommon that the majority of Irkens would never even experience such things. Therefore, there wasn’t really anywhere in their ships that allowed for expelling waste in any way.

That was just one of the several things that Zim would have to amend before they could begin their journey. 

Thankfully, that was one of the things that didn’t seem too complicated for him to fix. It was definitely a problem that could cause  _ far _ bigger and more prominent issues in the future if Zim didn’t fix that soon (he shuddered at the very thought of plumming issues becoming a problem on their ship while in space), but it was a problem that could be solved easily. 

As was the issue of cleansing. 

Zim could easily survive in space with nothing more in the way of hygiene than the cleansing bars Irkens had. Dib, on the other hand, required far more. 

Theoretically, the water used for bathing could be cleansed and recycled regularly so that they never ran out of clean water for Dib to use in showers and such.  _ That _ wasn’t the problem, though. The actual problem at hand had more to do with the fact that Zim wasn’t certain how safe it would be to keep enough water on the ship for both hydration and hygienic practices for Dib. 

Of course, paste continued to help protect Zim’s Irken flesh from being burnt and damaged by the terrible water that covered the planet, but that didn’t mean that Zim wasn’t uneasy about having all of that water so near to him. Even  _ with _ his protective paste, he found himself nervous when in contact with water, and the false shield of safety that came with using the paste didn’t completely save him from any issues that could potentially arise from the terrifying substance.

Regardless, water was necessary to keep DIb well and alive- his pathetic organs would shrivel up and fail without it, unfortunately, and he would reek more than usual if he wasn’t able to bathe regularly- so not keeping a vast storage of it with them at all times wasn’t an option. 

Zim let out a sigh. The two of them would just have to come up with a safe way to store everything they would need. They were smart people, though. Zim wasn’t going to let something as stupid as  _ that _ get in their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how I went into this thinking “Okay, they’ll be in space in, like, chapter two!” But then I actually started writing it.
> 
> I'm not very happy with how this turned out- especially the section from Zim's perspective- so I apologize if it seems a bit off. With some important things coming up, soon, I likely won't have as much time to update this story as well as my other works, but, hopefully, I'll still be able to put out somewhat regular and decent updates, even with the changes in my schedule.


	6. The Tests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all of the time Dib has spent, he is fully prepared to test out of his classes so they can begin their trips, eliminating their final barrier.

Attempting to test out of an entire grade over the course of one Summer- especially when attending a school like Astra Academy- was an incredibly difficult feat. Dib Membrane, however, was never one to back down from a fight. Dib was incredibly smart, but having both the person considered to be one of the smartest people in the world as well as a brilliant alien as allies definitely helped. With all three participants’ combined enthusiasm and passion for the project at hand- some more so than others- Dib definitely had a bit of an advantage, despite the difficulties involved. He had ways of getting through this and every day he spent working towards his goal, the more excited he became about the eventual payoff of it. 

That’s how Dib Membrane spent the entirety of the Summer before his final year of school either studying to test out of his classes, of working on fixing he and Zim’s spaceship so they would be ready.

Despite Zim neither being human nor as passionate about Dib passing his final year, he still put forth a great deal of effort towards helping his human companion. There were several days where they spent hours studying and working together. Strangely, it was incredibly comfortable and pleasant to do that by the alien’s side and Dib actually found doing his school work far more bearable with Zim at his side, even when the Irken wasn’t being very helpful.

Membrane had never been incredibly present in Dib’s life, but, for the first time in  _ years _ , he was putting forth the effort to be there for Dib and help him along.

As much as Dib appreciated the fact that his dad was finally trying to help him, he didn’t anticipate it working out very well. Sure, Membrane was one of the smartest people in the world, but, despite them sharing the same genetics and living in the same house, they frequently didn’t work very well together. They were incredibly different people, all things considered, and Dib was mildly nervous that he would have a difficult time working with him. Shockingly, though, things went very well. Membrane was nowhere near as pushy as Dib expected him to be whenever he helped Dib with his studies that Summer. In spite of everything, they worked together oddly well, and Membrane seemed thrilled that his son was taking on such a bold and intense project for not only the Summer, but the following year as well. 

It was nice, having the pride and acceptance of his father on Dib’s side.

That Summer was one of the most hectic Summers in all of Dib’s life and it didn’t come as much of a surprise to him. Up until that year, he’d had some interesting encounters and had gotten up to wacky hijinx in the past, but never anything as intense as, well,  _ anything  _ involving an alien. He was juggling several different incredibly strange things all at once and, while it certainly made everything more interesting, it  _ did _ make things mildly stressful, at times. 

Thankfully, with everything that was happening in such a short amount of time, the Summer went by rather quickly. The Summer flew by at a rate that Dib knew was completely normal but that  _ felt _ wildly abnormal. That wasn’t a problem for Dib, though. The sooner the Summer was over, the sooner he and Zim would finally be able to take to the stars and embark on their first adventure through space.

The sooner the Summer ended, however, the sooner Dib had to take his exams to test out of his classes and it wasn’t long before Dib was getting various e-mails and letters from the school regarding the scheduling and location of his tests. 

He had to take seven exams in total- some that he suspected would be far easier than others- in a relatively short amount of time. All of his exams would be completed within a week of one another and the proximity of them, somehow, made it far easier for Dib. He wouldn’t have to wait weeks on end to see if he passed each of the tests he took. Instead, he would be able to get all of his results back in the span of one week. The scheduling was less stressful than if he had to wait long periods of time between each exam he took- there was no need to stretch out this process any more than they already had. As it was, he had dedicated plenty of time to each of these classes. After everything he had done over the Summer and all of the work he had put forth, he was looking forward to finally be able to focus every ounce of his attention on what he truly wanted to do. 

Dib leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers before stretched his arms out in front of him, a satisfying pop emitting from his joints as he did so. His eyes fixated on the brightly lit screen before him as he read the first test question. 

His lips quirked into a small smile as he absorbed the first one.  _ This was going to be easy. _

~~~

Just as Dib had expected, all of his tests had gone well. He had completed the first six and passed each of them with flying colours. None of them had been too difficult for him to get through, although there had definitely been several questions that had stumped him on each of the tests.

Regardless, he had gotten through all six of them perfectly well, and, although it came as a surprise to none of them, both Zim and Professor Membrane congratulated him on it. Dib was certainly  _ pleased _ that he had passed his tests, but he wasn’t exactly  _ proud _ of himself for doing so. At least, the pride he felt when he got his test scores back didn’t compare to the spark of pride he felt when his father had congratulated him on doing so well.

Perhaps Dib was getting a bit cocky, but what reason did he have to  _ not _ be? He had never had a particularly difficult time in school- or, rather, not with his studies and his classwork- and this Summer was no different. All he needed now was the confirmation that his seventh and final test had gone as well as the other ones and he would be good to go. 

As he waited for the webpage that would display his grade to load, Dib let his eyelids fall closed. Thoughts and plans about what would happen once he and Zim were finally able to go flitted through his head and a small smile graced his features as he let his mind wander to things far more interesting than the test he had just taken. He was so close to finally being able to see the universe from a new perspective. For the first time, he wouldn’t simply be staring up at the night sky and imagining being among the stars- he would be  _ experiencing _ it.

When dib finally opened his eyes to gaze upon the grade he had received, though, he felt his heart stop.

34/50. 68%

Dib had gotten  _ one less _ question right than he would need to pass and test out of the class. He had been  _ one _ question off from absolute victory.

_ Fuck _ . 

~~~

Just as Dib had, Zim fully expected Dib to pass the final test. Considering how much work he had put forth and how well he had done on all of the other ones, the thought that he  _ wouldn’t _ pass had barely even crossed his mind. What came as a  _ bigger _ shock, though, was how irritated Dib was about the situation. 

Although they had only known one another for roughly a year, then, Zim had learned a great deal about Dib. One of the  _ many _ things he had discovered about the human over their time knowing one another was that he handled failure about as well as Zim did- which was to say that he  _ didn’t _ . Zim was no stranger to the feeling of wanting to rip out his antennae when something in his plans went terribly awry, nor was he a stranger to Dib getting far too into his head when he had similar issues. 

Somehow, though, that didn’t make things any better. 

“Dib.” Zim attempted to interject into his human’s ramblings.

The human didn’t seem to process his name being called, though, far more focused on his irritation with himself to notice, “I can’t  _ believe _ I didn’t pass!”

“Dib-Beast-”

“I didn’t have that problem with any of my other tests- I did _ great _ on those ones! I passed with flying colours.”

Zim knew that Dib was upset about the potential of this postponing their trip, and Zim could completely sympathize, but that didn’t stop slight exasperation from creeping into his voice as he used a slightly different nickname to try and get his attention,  _ “Dibble _ -”

“-And I was  _ so _ close!” Dib groaned, “I just needed to get  _ one more _ and-”

“DIB!”

Finally, the human seemed to fully process his Irken companion’s words and stooped in his tracks, his ranting falling silent as his pacing stilled completely, “What?”

“These tests you took to exempt yourself from the classes next year were online, correct?”

“Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?”

Had he been wearing his contact lenses at the moment, Zim would have rolled his eyes in response to that, “Come with me.”

Without a second thought, Dib followed Zim as the alien lead him deeper into his base, into a more obviously technologically advanced place than his living room was. 

As they stepped off the elevator and entered the main room, Dib greeted Computer- an action that made the Invader’s lips quirk up into a small smile. There was something strangely amusing and endearing about Dib befriending those in Zim’s little “family”. 

As they drew closer to the large monitor of Computer, Zim sat down in the large, comfortable chair positioned before it. Following his lead, Dib dropped into the one beside Zim’s (the Irken had had to add the second chair to the room for these situations). 

“So, Space Boy,” Dib tilted his head, “What exactly is your plan, here?”

Zim turned the majority of his focus to the task at hand, busying himself with his attempts with Computer, clawed fingers clacking against the control panel as he typed. Still, he diverted enough of his attention from what he was doing to answer Dib’s question, “Your school may be one of the more advanced ones when compared to the rest of your pathetic little planet, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s no match for Irken technology.”

Dib sat up straighter in his seat, “Are you trying to hack into the school and change my test grade?”

“ _ Trying _ ?” Zim asked, a triumphant grin spreading across his face as he continued, “I’m  _ succeeding _ .”

Excitedly, Dib rolled his chair a bit closer to the control panel, leaning in close enough that both of them had access to it. Zim didn’t  _ need _ the help of his human companion, but it wasn’t as though it wasn’t appreciated- besides, Dib had attended that school for far longer than Zim had, so his knowledge  _ was  _ helpful. 

Suddenly, the fire that Dib had had while ranting was diverted away from himself and redirected into something more akin to excitement as they worked alongside one another. It was a bit of a relief to feel Dib relax and become focused on what they were doing rather than what he had been doing before. 

Just as Zim had suspected, Astra Academy was  _ severely _ lacking in the internet security department- at least when up against their superior technology. Within minutes, they were passed the barriers set in place and had easily changed the grade Dib had received, adding just one more point to his score than was originally there. 

Both were practically buzzing with anticipation by the time they finished, grinning as they realized what they meant for them. They wouldn’t have to wait, and Zim could tell that Dib was just as excited about this as he was. It was only a matter of time before they were able to begin their mission, and nothing was standing in their way, anymore.


	7. Take to the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Zim and Dib are able to do what the set out to do months ago.

When preparing to finally actually leave, Dib found himself packing nearly everything he owned. He brought along most of the money he had around his room, plenty of his clothes, his books, his journals, and several of his other possessions. Despite everything he had done the past few months, he didn’t really know how he was supposed to prepare for an adventure like this. Although he had been looking forward to something like this happening for what felt like an eternity, there was really nothing he could have done in the past to ready himself for this. He had, obviously, never traversed space- let alone in the ways that he and Zim were planning on doing so. He had little to no clue of what to expect and, while that made it  _ incredibly _ exciting and interesting, it also made things more complicated. It was hard to get ready for something when you didn’t know what to expect from it. 

Nonetheless, Dib did what he could to prepare himself. 

He brought cameras, journals, and writing utensils so he could catalogue everything that they saw, heard, experienced and learned. While he knew that most of what would happen while they were out wouldn’t be too strange or new to Zim, it would be  _ completely _ unheard of to Dib and he wanted to record every second of it in one way or another. He didn’t want to forget any of what happened, and, more importantly, he wanted to be able to use the knowledge he gained while in space in different ways. He knew that there would be plenty for him to learn and experience that would open new doors for him. This was an amazing opportunity and it would only lead to more opportunities like it. Dib was thrilled. 

Considering the fact that they had figured out a fairly decent way to filter and clean the water Dib would use to bathe himself and wash his clothes with, he wasn’t too worried about that becoming a problem, so he didn’t pack the entirety of his wardrobe, despite his first instincts to do so to ensure he didn’t have to worry about being stuck in disgusting garments for an extended period of time. More importantly, he would have to bring a massive amount of soaps and other hygiene products in preparation for whatever it was that they would run into. Even if they didn’t stay out in space for a long time (though Dib suspected they would), he would need plenty of it to ensure that he didn’t feel revolting within minutes of their trip or drive his germaphobic friend to murder him in a germ-induced rage. This proved to not be too much of a problem, though. 

Although it would certainly appear strange to his father if he brought such an enormous amount of hygienic products with him without him knowing the full extent of their plans, it wasn’t difficult for Dib to get his hands on enough for their trip. Besides, despite the fact that humans definitely had different needs than Irkens, it wasn’t as though they would be alone in space. They were bound to come across someplace where they could get things that would suffice.

What was far more pressing, though, was the matter of finding a large enough amount of food and water for Dib to survive for months on end in the cold vastness of space. The void that hung above them in the sky wasn’t exactly full of safe things for Dib to eat and drink and, although they would almost definitely be able to find water in some form on other planets in the universe, it was an important enough thing for human existence that they would have to be cautious about it and not rely on the possibility of stumbling across some that would be safe for consumption. Although food wouldn’t be as difficult to come across on different planets, there were still two problems associated with that. 

For one, a great deal of their time would likely be spent travelling and they weren’t sure how long they would be able to stay on one planet before needing to flee- if they even ended up staying on  _ any _ planets for an extended amount of time. They would need to bring enough food along to keep Dib alive in the case that they  _ weren’t _ able to get food from other planets easily- and all of it had to be non-perishable. 

More importantly, though, there was a  _ massive _ chance that what would be accessible to them would be dangerous to Dib. Humans had  _ incredibly _ strange dietary needs and restrictions even by the standard of their own planet. Neither of them had any clue how safe it would be to eat anything on other planets. 

In an attempt to quell this problem, Zim and Dib decided to invest some of their time into another device that would be important for their excusion. 

Considering the fact that it could potentially be deadly if Dib consumed something alien while they were out on their trip, it was dire that they found a way to combat that. In their opinion, the best way for them to do so would be to create a device they could use to scan foods before Dib ate them so that he could gather information about the product first. 

The device was simple enough at first glance. It looked somewhat similar to a cellphone on Earth, though there were a few obvious differences between the two of them. Namely, the device they created could be collapsed into a smaller, somewhat cylindrical piece roughly the size of a pen for easy storage. When fully “open”, though, it could be used to scan alien foods to display a breakdown of what exactly it was composed of. Beyond that, though, it would distinctly tell Dib whether or not it was safe for humans to consume and provide information about the nutrients it would provide to him. That way, he would have a far easier time eating food without having to worry to much about how his body would respond to its components and would even be able to ensure he got everything he needed to when eating. 

Dib had to admit that he was proud of the device, despite how simple it was. It would be incredibly helpful for him while they were out in space and he could see it being practical in many other situations as well. 

With everything that Dib could see as a potential problem having been sorted out in one way or another, they were ready for adventure and nothing was going to stop them, anymore. 

~~~

Unlike his human counterpart, Zim had been into space on several occasions. He had travelled to several different planets and had been on many different space ships during his time as an Invader for the Armada, so the concept of going into space in and of itself wasn’t terribly exciting to him. It wasn’t something new to him. Plenty of space was just as familiar to Zim as his home planet of Irk was. Going into space wasn’t too exciting to him. 

What  _ was _ exciting to him, though, was the fact that, this time, he would be going into space with his friend. Dib had never been to space and the idea that he would get to experience much of it for the first time right beside Zim was something that excited the Irken. He would be able to show the human so much of the universe that he had never seen before and he couldn’t think of anything he would rather do. 

Beyond that, this would be the first time he was going on a mission of his own rather than one assigned to him by the Tallests. For the first time, he would truly be able to make his own decisions about what he would be doing. He was no longer working in the name of the Armada nor were his actions being controlled and dictated by them. He was completely free to do whatever he desired when the two of them finally began their adventure and Zim intended to take full advantage of that in more than one way. 

The freedom itself was nice- exciting, even- but Zim couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t looking forward to going against the word of the Armada for the first time in his life. He was thrilled to finally have the chance to get back at them for everything they had ever done to him- to make them  _ pay _ . 

Zim smirked lightly as he saw Dib coming up the walkway to his house, bags in hand. 

The Tallests would never see them coming. 

"Read to leave, Dib-Thing?" 

“I was born ready,” Dib grinned. 

“You came out of your test tubes prepared to overthrow a near-universal dictatorship?”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Dib’s smile didn’t falter in the slightest, “Now, hurry up, Space Boy. We’ve got places to be.”

~~~

This was far from Zim’s first time behind the control panel of a space ship, carefully guiding it out of the space it was stored and out into the endlessly dark abyss above them. It  _ was _ , however, Dib’s first time doing so, and Zim couldn’t help but smile as he watched the clear excitement play across the human’s features. 

Dazzled eyes blown wide with awe, legs bouncing and feet tapping lightly against the floor with barely contained exhilaration, and a massive smile stretched across Dib’s face showed the obvious emotions that were stirring within him. Despite Zim’s generalized dislike of intense emotions, the feelings coursing through Dib practically radiated off the enthused human and Zim found himself brightening alongside him. 

The top of the house opened up, the sides of Zim’s roofing pulling apart to allow their ship access to the night sky. 

They rose quickly, though Zim let it move slowly enough that DIb would be able to get a good view of the planet slowly receding. Even Zim had to admit that watching the light of the lampposts and the houses below blur and fade into smaller specks the higher they went was fairly pleasing. It was incredibly pretty despite it being a somewhat familiar sight to the both of them- though in completely different ways. 

No matter how many times Zim went into space, the sight of every creature and vehicle on the planet’s surface slowly shrinking to the size of insects as he flew away from them, leaving them behind would always fill him with an odd sense of exhilaration. It reminded him that he was part of something bigger and more important than what was before him. Plus, his natural Irken instincts would always kick in and fill him with mild excitement from feeling so “tall”, even if only for a few moments. 

Beside him, Dib was practically vibrating in his seat, clearly thrilled with what was happening all around them. Zim made sure to keep the pace of their ascent slow and steady so that his human friend could take in every single detail around them. This was new and special to Dib even if it wasn’t to Zim, so he wanted to make sure it was just as exciting for Dib as it was for him the first time he did the very same thing. 

The pathetic planet that they were finally leaving shrank in size the further they got and, slowly but surely, the lights from below began to look less like lamps and more like strange stars that had fallen. 

Soon, specific things were completely out of their view and all they saw were large bodies of dark, icy water punctuated by masses of land that, next to the enormous waters surrounding them, were practically dwarfed. 

Seeing it from so far away, Zim could understand why scientists had nicknamed the planet the “Blue Marble” (though it still seemed like a stupid name for a planet, regardless). It truly looked like a strange sphere of carefully crafted glass and this perspective was only furthered as they drew closer and closer to the rest of space, leaving the planet behind. 

Finally, they broke from the stratosphere and entered into the complete unknown. 


	8. Into the Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So many options.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for not updating any of my works for a bit (and for this chapter being a bit short). I've been having a difficult time writing and finding time to do so, as of late.

Dib and Zim fell into relative silence as they put more and more distance between them and the planet they had come from. The silence was far from uncomfortable, though. It was a thoughtful and excited silence, both travellers too lost in their own thoughts and feelings to even consider breaking the silence that was so strong in the void of space.

GIR, however, did not have the same issue with disrupting the peace, and was loudly singing what he proclaimed to be the "Doom Song" within minutes of them finally breaching the stratosphere. 

Zim let out a groan as he heard the first notes of the song, memories of his last long trip through space with the robot plaguing his mind and making him wonder if he would soon end up regretting bringing him along.

Dib just laughed, too excited and amused to be irritated by it. 

"So," the human began, the dopey grin still across his face, but finally tearing his eyes away from the astonishing sight of endless stars and planets around them to meet the gaze of his alien companion, "Where should we go?" 

"Er…" Zim thought for a moment. Although he obviously wanted to begin working against the Armada as quickly as possible for  _ numerous _ reasons, he wasn't sure how well he would be able to work with the Resisty. Considering his position as an (ex) Irken Invader, them understanding his situation and being civil seemed unlikely. Although he  _ was _ looking forward to being able to make allies to help them with their mission- or, more accurately, become allies to an already ongoing (and somewhat  _ failing _ ) mission- he knew the entire situation would be a massive headache. Dealing with them would be incredibly irritating, he assumed. Zim wasn't even certain they would fully accept Dib into their ranks considering his closeness to him. 

Beyond that, though, the absolute joy and wonder that practically  _ glowed _ in Dib's eyes kind of made Zim want to just take the human around to different planets to show him new things. He almost wanted to do nothing more than explore and sight-see with the human before they even began their true mission. Despite that not being the “productive” route, it sounded nice, in some ways.

Computer chuckled at Zim's silence, "Did you not plan this out?"

Dib snickered as well while Zim just glowered, "Of  _ course _ I've thought this through!" 

"Then what do you want to do?" Dib asked, "How we go about this is completely your choice. I still don't exactly have enough experience to decide that."

Of course! Dib had never been to space before- it seemed almost cruel to barely introduce him to the concept of space travel before throwing him into a nearly impossible battle against a powerful enemy. Besides, it would be helpful for Dib to become a bit more accustomed to what it was like beyond his home planet before they began their mission. It would be far easier. 

"Since you've never done this before, let's start off simple." Zim tapped at the screen of the control panel, setting course for a small planet not too far from Dib's own, though still beyond the solar system. 

Dib leaned over the panel to get a better look, "Where are we going?"

"We, Dib-Thing, are going to go to a planet that’s safe from the Irken Armada:  _ Valiaht _ ,” he finished typing in the coordinates as he explained his course of action, “While it isn’t directly linked to the Resisty they’ve made it clear that they’re in support of their cause. The people of the planet have lent their time and effort to the Resisty, recently. It should be the perfect safe-haven, for now.”

Valiaht was incredibly different from Earth and Dib would certainly find it interesting and exciting. Zim was positive that they would be able to find some sort of excitement on that planet, even if it didn’t directly relate to the current mission. Plus, considering its decent and friendly relationship with the Resisty, it was the perfect compromise of the two things Zim wanted out ot this trip.

“Wait,  _ ‘recently’ _ ?” Dib’s voice was laced with scepticism, “How would you know that? Have you been in contact with the Resisty, already?”

“Er, not exactly.”

Dib arched an eyebrow at that. 

“I tampered with their signals. I was able to see several of their logs and gather plenty of information.” Zim had to admit, though, this wasn’t one of the pieces of information that he thought would be all that useful to them.

A look something like concern flashed across Dib’s face, but Zim waved it away before the human could even voice his concerns- Zim already knew what he was going to say.

“Don’t worry about the Armada intercepting them in the same way and getting their information. I was able to get in because of my superior intellect!” Zim boasted excitedly. At Dib’s unwavering scepticism, he sighed and continued to explain, “GIR also helped.”

“He did?” Dib glanced over at the small robot, who was barely paying attention to their conversation, seeming mildly taken aback. In all honesty, Zim had been suprised, too, when he had first discovered that his information would come in handy. 

GIR just bounced up to his feet and ran over to them, clearly proud of himself, “I did!”

“GIR befriended someone from the Resisty. That simplified things greatly. It’s unlikely that I would have ended up getting the information without his help.” It had still been difficult, even with GIR’s assistance and extra information. He was kind of proud of himself for his resourcefulness. Although it was far from the best he had done, it was still a success (plus, he had to admit that he was proud of his little robot companion as well).

“Besides,” Zim continued, “Even if I  _ had _ been able to get in because the firewalls were weak, we would be able to fix them when we got there. Don’t worry.”

“Huh,” Dib seemed to think that over for a moment, a small smile alighting his face, “Nice job! I’m surprised that you guys were actually able to do that.”

Zim found himself smiling as well, beaming at the congratulations combined with his own happiness about successefully pulling it off. He was glad that Dib seemed impressed by his work.

The human didn’t need to know that, though.

~~~

Dib stared down at the surface of the planet that they hovered above in awe. Unlike his own planet, there didn’t seem to be any sort of water covering the surface- just a large expanse of forest-like areas dotted with rolling planes or small mountains. There were no buildings- at least no obvious ones- and the plant life on the planet was flourishing. The grass was thick and luscious, a far brighter shade of green than that of his own own home planet. Different kinds of strange flowers and fungi dotted the surface. Although they were unlike the flora on his own planet, what they were seemed fairly obvious.

They landed gently- Zim maneuvering the ship far more carefully than Dib had anticipated considering his violent crash not too long ago (though blaming that on the Irken wasn't entirely fair). Now that they were closer, Dib could see everything in better detail. 

Some of the flowers were far larger than those of Earth, looking more like small trees than flowers, though others seemed more typical in size. Their composition was incredibly different, though. Despite the fact that it was barely there, Dib could have sworn that he saw the flowers and other plants  _ moving _ . They looked almost like they were breathing and shifting around- though their movement was distinctly different from that of flowers swaying from the force of a fresh breeze rolling through. 

All of it was so familiar yet so breathtakingly alien that Dib couldn't help the excitement he felt as he stared out at all if it in wonder. All of the colours that filled the planet were ones he had seen before, but all were in such stunning, vibrant hues that they almost seemed foreign. Everything was new and beautiful and Dib felt his urge to explore and adventure this strange new world bubbling up within him intensely. 

Dib wasn’t sure if he would ever get over the wonder of space-travel. He hoped that he didn’t.

"This planet is nowhere near as technologically advanced as Irk is, but they have still, supposedly, been of great help to the Resisty," Zim gestured at the planet around them, "Plus, I've heard the food is delicious and should be safe for human consumption."

Dib was slightly surprised that the Resisty would take up the offer of assistance from a planet seemingly behind them in technology. It made sense, though. Dib suspected they would need all the help they could possibly get when up against something as powerful as the Irken Armada. 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Dib grinned, “Let’s go explore!”

Zim returned the smile before hitting a button to open the hatch on the ship, allowing them to finally exit and head into the new strange world that awaited them. 


	9. Beautifully Bizarre

As they stepped out into the new planet, Dib immediately scanned the area surrounding them. He had expected it would be fairly quiet since it didn't look like anyone was around them, but he could just barely hear some whisper that came out in hushed tones and soft voices. 

Dib furrowed his eyebrows, wondering where the voices were coming from. Perhaps the inhabitants of this planet were incredibly small? That could explain the lack of any obviously visible buildings for them to take shelter in. Or maybe they were hidden among the trees. If that was the case, though, they were hiding incredibly well. Dib couldn't see them at all as he scoured the branches hanging overhead. 

Still uncertain of where the noise was coming from, but deciding that he would discover that later, he turned his attention to the stranger plants all around them. While there were several aspects of them that reminded him of plants on his own planet, they were clearly different in many ways. While they were clearly much larger and contained much bolder hues than most flowers on Earth, those weren’t the things that stood out to him the most. No, what stood out to him far more was the composition of the odd plants. Although the entire plants were unusual, the oddest thing about their composition was how different the spots on the mushrooms and the anthers of the flowers looked to that of those on Earth. 

Curious, Dib took a few steps closer, hoping to use his device to scan the nearest flower and hopefully learn something about it. When he did so, though, an even more peculiar thing happened. 

_ The flower took a step back. _

Dib jumped at the sight, eyes widening.

The flowers and some of the taller mushrooms seemed to tilt and twist from side to side, “looking” at each other the way two people attempting to express something via facial expressions might when in an awkward or dangerous situation. It was only then, with DIb closer to the flower he had seen, that he came to realize  _ why  _ the anthers of the flowers were so incredibly unusual. 

The anthers perched atop the stamen of the flowers were  _ eyes _ , the filaments of the stamen seeming to act much the way that the eyestalks of snails did, holding up the eyes and allowing them to move them around more freely. Unlike a snail, though the eyes were somewhat almond-shaped and almost completely one solid colour, the only indication of them acting the same way that human eyes did being the pinpricks of darker, rectangular pupils in the centres of their eyes, flitting around as they took in the disturbance to their surroundings. They were beautifully bizarre. 

The hushed tones that he had heard earlier tapered out as the flowers backed away from Dib cautiously and it struck him that the voices had been their own.

Clearing his throat, Dib decided that the stunning silence wasn’t getting any of them anywhere, “Hello. I’m Dib and this is Zim. We, uh, come in peace?”

“Seriously?” Zim sighed, face scrunching up in what seemed like mild disgust, “‘We come in peace’. What is this, one of your horrible human movies about aliens?”

“Well excuse _me_ for not knowing protocol for visiting new planets,” Dib rolled his eyes. 

The new creatures didn’t seem to process any of the things Dib said, instead continuing to look amongst themselves, deliberating. 

One mushroom turned towards the two of them and began to speak in a tongue that Dib couldn’t even begin to recognize- let alone comprehend. To be honest, though, Dib was more focused on the fact that the mushroom-esque creature’s mouth was almost their entire hymenium.

Whatever it was that the creature said, though, had Zim glaring in response and making similarly unfamiliar noises back at them. It was clear that they were conversing, but that was only so helpful to DIb when he had no clue what it was they were discussing. 

“What are they saying?” Dib squinted as if that would help him decipher their phrases. 

Zim blinked, taken aback for a moment, “Or, right. You don’t know any languages beyond that of your own planet.”

Dib opened his mouth to point out the fact that he  _ did _ , in fact, know Irken fairly well, and that he had a completely  _ reasonable  _ explanation behind not being fluent in any languages beyond his own realm, but Zim was already speaking again before he could finish his sentence. 

“GIR! Retrieve the Dib’s communication device.”

GIR sprang up from where he was inadvertently terrorizing a group of innocent floral creatures and hurried into the ship, returning moments later with a metal device that looked oddly familiar. 

Dib took the device from GIR, turning it over in his hands, brow quirked as he inspected it. It looked incredibly similar to a pair of headphones, though one side was missing the speaker and the casing, only having something similar to a head pad that would come to rest above the ear. On the side that had the speaker still intact, there was a flexible microphone boom with an incredibly tiny microphone at the end of it. The edges of the headband and the centre of the speaker cup had dimly glowing lights within a solid, clear casing.

“Is that… a gaming headset?”

“It used to be! Now, though, it will allow you to communicate with other species without learning their native languages. While my PAK comes programmed with several different languages across the galaxies and picks them up as we go from place to place, allowing us to automatically learn them, humans have to spend years learning new languages,” Zim gesticulated as he spoke, “These headphones will translate what is said by others in different languages, translate it into English, and then do the reverse when you speak into the microphone.”

Dib paused for a moment, “Did you get the headset from Gaz’s room?”

“ _ That _ is what you’re worried about?” Zim deflated at the question, “ _ Yes _ , I got it from the DIb-sister’s room.”

Dib chuckled as he slipped the headset on, “She is going to  _ kill _ you.”

Zim waved Dib odd, though Dib still noticed the Irken’s small shudder at the thought of facing the terrifying human in a battle, “We’re not even on the same planet, I have no reason to worry. Now get over here, you have that on wrong.”

Zim leaned towards Dib, pulling him closer as well before reaching up to adjust the headset on him. Considering the size of Dib’s head, he typically had a difficult time finding headsets that fit comfortably. This one, though, had been carefully made and fit him perfectly with very little adjustment from either party. The only adjustments that Zim really had to make involved rearranging it on Dib’s head so that it sat correctly and would allow him to use the microphone and hear others clearly. 

As the Irken fidgeted with the headset that was perched atop Dib’s massive cranium, voices crackled to life in the human’s ears. Slowly, they came into focus, becoming clearer and clearer and allowing him to catch bits and pieces of the whispered conversation that happened all around them. 

_ “What are they doing here?” _

_ “What _ is _ that thing?” _

_ “What is it doing with an  _ Irken _?” _

“There!” Zim declared with an air of finality in his voice. He paused only for a moment to run his hands through the front of Dib’s hair, freeing his scythe from where it was pinned down beneath the headband of the device, allowing it to spring back up, “Perfect.”

Dib smiled, a combination of the fact that Zim had remembered that specific complication and had  _ made _ something for Dib to make things easier for them on their adventure. It meant a lot for him, and he couldn’t help the slight swell in his chest at the reminder that his friend cared about him. 

But now wasn’t the time to think about that. Right now, the far more pressing matter was that of the new planet they had just landed on and the fact that they obviously needed to clear some things up before they could go any further.

“Uh, hello?” Dib tried again, careful to ensure he was speaking into the microphone.

For a moment, all of the creatures fell silent once more. 

“It can speak our language?”

Dib frowned, letting out a huff, “I’m a  _ ‘he’ _ and, yes. I can understand you.”

The creatures looked amongst themselves again. Dib couldn’t completely read the situation considering the fact that none of them were human and were a bit different to read than what he was used to, but he could sense the tension in the air. 

“What are you doing here?” One of the strange mushrooms asked, coming forward slightly. 

“We’re just stopping by,” Zim explained, “We have important business to attend to.”

The creatures seemed uneasy. 

Before the silence could stretch any longer, one of the blue, flower-like creatures spoke up, sending a pointed look to another on of the floral creatures, “Well, while you’re here, why don’t we show you what our planet has to offer.”

“That would be great!” Dib grinned, “What can you tell us about this place?”

~~~

The creatures that had all been gathered around their ship when they initially landed had since then dispersed, leaving Dib and Zim alone with the blue flower creature that had spoken to them before- Vervain was their name. Despite the initial shock of their arrival, Vervain was being incredibly hospitable to the two of them, showing them around the planet and answering whatever questions they (mostly Dib) had.

So far, Dib had asked nearly all of the questions that had been answered throughout their little tour of the immediate area while Zim asked nearly no questions. Zim didn’t mind Dib’s numerous questions- even if some of them  _ were _ strange or stupid questions. In fact, Zim found it somewhat endearing to see the human so excited about something so simple. It wasn’t an incredibly interesting planet when compared to other things that Zim had seen, but Dib had absolutely no experience with things like this, so Zim wasn’t too surprised that Dib was over the moon at the very sight of the planet. 

The inhabitants were also being fairly friendly towards them. Although they had seemed a bit standoffish initially and the majority of them had fled the area shortly after Vervain began leading them along on their tour, the kindness being shown to them at the moment was great. It seemed a little strange, but the weak-looking flower creatures didn’t exactly come off to Zim as a hostile species- certainly not a threatening one. Considering their lack of more highly advanced technology, he supposed it made sense for them to be taken aback by the arrival of strange newcomers- especially those who weren’t obviously part of the Resisty. 

Regardless of the reasoning behind their kind actions, it was clear that DIb greatly appreciated what Vervain was doing for them. Although Zim had wanted to be able to show Dib things about different planets through adventuring and conducting their own studies, he had to admit that having their questions answered more directly  _ was _ simpler. Besides, Dib seemed absolutely elated to just be on another planet and seeing new things. He didn’t seem to mind  _ how _ he learned about the different planet, so long as he was able to discover something he hadn’t before. 

Zim tore his gaze away from the odd trees that towered above them. They seemed much like ones from Dib’s own planet, with a couple of exceptions of ones that were, in some strange way, just slightly off.

The Irken focused back in on the conversation that Vervain and Dib were having. 

“On my planet, we have creatures kind of like you guys!” Dib seemed genuinely excited about how strange yet familiar everything here was- though Zim could completely understand that. 

“Oh, really?” Vervain sounded engaged in their conversation despite the fact that he wouldn’t even look Dib in the eye- their own eyes swivelling around to look at their surroundings thoughtfully.

Dib hummed in affirmation, “You guys are definitely incredibly different, though. You look similar, but all of the trees, flowers, and fungi on my planet have pretty limited powers of movement. The majority of them can’t walk around or speak advanced languages like you can.”

Vervain  _ did _ seem slightly surprised by that, “Really? None of them can communicate and move around? They’re  _ all _ just stationary?”

“Well, not all of them,” Dib explained, “The majority of them, yes, but there  _ are _ exceptions to the rule. There are things like venus fly traps that move to catch their food and they sort of ‘move’ when they grow, but plants are entirely different on Earth.”

Vervain nodded- or did something that looked like it. It was less of a nod and more of a strange bobbing motion with their eye-stalks, but the movement got across regardless. 

“Speaking of, actually…” Dib looked up at the completely stationary trees all around them, “What about trees, here? Are they not like you? Do they not move or speak, either?”

“Actually, they’re somewhat like plants on your home planet, are- the majority of them do not move nor speak, but there are exceptions.”

The mention of “exceptions” had Zim briefly thinking about the trees that had seemed just slightly different from the others. Perhaps those one were sentient beings just as they were and he simply hadn’t realized it. 

“Really? That’s amazing!” Dib grinned, “You guys have  _ tree ents _ .”

“Yes. In fact, there’s one coming now.”

Dib and Zim both quickly turned around to face in the direction that Vervain had gestured towards. 

Lumbering towards them much like a gangly depiction of a giant was a massive tree ent, the knots in the bark encasing eyes rather than existing as accommodations for the branches protruding from it. In fact, each of those protruding branched seemed to act as arms- eight very  _ large _ arms swinging towards them at a speed that seemed far too quick for Zim’s liking. 

Before he could even think of grabbing Dib and pulling the two of them out of the way of the massive creature, it barrelled into them, practically brushing the two of them in one swift movement. 

Pain exploded throughout Zim’s body and the sound of a sickening crack followed by a pained wheeze filled his head for several long seconds before blackness swirled in his vision, blurring until there was absolutely nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That AP Biology class is finally coming in handy.


	10. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zim and Dib have found themselves victim to quite the big misunderstanding.

Dib blinked awake blearily, slowly coming to after what had happened. His head pounded violently like there were small creatures inhabiting the place in his skull and were taking chisels to the bone within to escape. The pain was intense and throbbing and it was all he could focus on for several minutes as he attempted to gather and sort out the information scrambled up within him. 

Finally beginning to find himself, again, Dib looked around his surroundings, attempting to gather his bearings. 

They were in a space completely different from anything he had seen on the surface of the placet. It was incredibly akin to a cave on Earth, with grey-ish stone making up the walls, ceiling, and flooring and the stone it was composed of twisting in strange ways to create intricate patterns. Although it was clear that building had been done down there, the architects had followed along with the natural structure of the cave rather than altering the cave drastically. Embedded in the walls and floors were precious gems- or, rather, gems that Dib didn’t really know anything about, but that  _ looked _ like precious gems from Earth. Despite them clearly being underground, the ceilings were high and beautiful, stalactites dripping from the ceiling like rain frozen in time. In fact, the solid bars that caged Dib into the little cavern he was being detained in seemed to consist primarily of stalactites and stalagmites, other metals filling in blocks of space where the mineral deposits were situated too far away from one another. 

It was the most beautiful jail cell Dib had ever been in. 

Pushing aside the thoughts of how shockingly stunning his new surroundings were, he attempted to force himself to focus on something far more important- the fact that Zim wasn’t locked up with him. 

Dib struggled to his feet, stumbling slightly upon first doing so. His head still ached incredibly from the force of impact, despite some time having passed (or, at least, Dib  _ assumed _ a decent amount of time had passed) and it threw him off a bit. Dib wasn’t unused to fighting by any means, though, so it didn’t take long for him to recover enough to move from his resting place. 

He paced over to the bars, leaning as close as he could so he could peer around the room. 

“Zim?” Dib kept his voice low and quiet, hoping that Zim’s heightened sense of Irken hearing would pick up on it without alerting anyone else there, “Zim, where are you?”

There was a quiet groan from somewhere else in the cave and Dib swivelled his head to the side, trying to follow the voice.

There were several other little cells similar to the one that Dib was in scattered up and down the hallways. The spacing of them was a little strange considering the fact that each of them was clearly made to fit perfectly within the preexisting cave without damaging it in any way- like a strange, large-scale puzzle. Dib had to admit that it was a cool idea. It looked nice and it was a great way to preserve the beauty of the cavern, but  _ damn _ did it make it difficult for him to search for the other cells- much less see who was in any of them. 

Huffing quietly, Dib moved around within his cage, peering out at different angles in a vain attempt to see anything else around him, his mild irritation only growing as he continued to struggle. The stalactites and glimmering metal acting to keep him separated from the rest of the world was certainly pretty to look at, but he really didn’t need the thick slabs of metal and mineral to obscure his vision. 

Still unable to see his friend, Zim raised his voice as he called out to him once more, “ZIM!”

“Ugh, could you keep it  _ down _ over there?” Another voice hissed.

Immediately, Dib recognized who the voice belonged to.

Dib narrowed his eyes, “Vervain.”

“Spare me the dramatics,” Vervain drew closer as they spoke. The flower-like creature looked incredibly out of place in the otherwise life-less world of stone and crystals beneath the surface. 

The human had never been one to spare  _ anyone _ his dramatics-  _ especially _ if that particular person was  _ telling  _ him to do so. Instead of following Vervain’s orders, Dib simply intensified his sneer as he spoke, “Why are we here? We didn’t  _ do _ anything.”

“Your little friend is an  _ Ikren _ -”

“Oh, really?” Dib asked with a slight roll of his eyes, “I hadn’t noticed.”

Vervain leaned closer to the bars, narrowing their eyes in return. The smaller petals situated around their eyes, coming from the meeting point between the stalks and the actual eyeballs (something Dib hadn’t noticed before), seemed to close around them slightly. While it looked more akin to some half-bloomed flower than a glare, it got the point across. 

“I’m not quite sure what  _ you _ are, but I know the Irken insignia when I see it. Anyone who openly travels with an Irken and proudly displays their sign on their ships is not to be trusted.”

“No one is proudly displaying  _ anything _ on the ship. The insignia is there because it was  _ originally _ from the Irken Armada.  _ We _ have nothing to do with them.” Zim hadn’t been estranged from his kind for too long (at least, as far as  _ he _ knew), but that didn’t mean anything. He had still  _ left _ them. 

Vervain seemed unimpressed by Dib’s words, not even slightly phased by what the human was saying to them. They opened their mouth to say something in retaliation, but Dib spoke over them before they could get their words out. 

“Where is Zim?”

“And why should I tell you?”

“Because if you don’t tell me, I will make you  _ regret _ it,” Dib grit out, earning nothing more than a bark of laughter. 

“Oh really?” Vervain chuckled as they spoke, head tilted to one side, “You may be powerful, but that doesn’t matter when you’re  _ trapped _ .”

“Yeah? And what makes you think that I won’t be able to get out of here?”

“The fact that you haven’t already.”

They had a point there, but Dib wasn’t going to let them know that, “What’s the point in trying to break out before I have a plan? I’m just biding my time.”

“If that were true, you wouldn’t  _ tell _ me,” Vervain didn’t sound completely confident, though. That, at the very least, was good. At this point in time, the only thing that Dib had going for him was the fact that he was completely new and unusual to these people. They had no clue what to expect from him or what he was truly capable of. He would need to keep that air of mystery strong with him while being held captive on this planet. He needed to stay in their minds as nothing more than a wild card. He needed to remain unpredictable. 

Luckily for Dib, that wouldn’t be an issue for him. Even for the people that he had known for years, he was a wild card. The people he had gone to school with for several years of his life were still often caught off-guard by his words and actions. He could  _ easily _ remain strange and unknown to these people who hardly knew them. 

He grinned, worry dissipating slightly as the gears in his brain began turning thoughts about how to deal with the situation already running through his mind, “We’ll see about that.”

~~~

Unbeknownst to either of them, Zim had come to far earlier than Dib did. His superior Irken healing properties made it easier for him to recover from something so simple and acted as a massive buffer between him and the initial impact. Zim’s PAK worked wonders for the brief time he was unconscious, allowing him to regain the correct mindset within moments.

When he came to, he was being contained in a place completely different from the one Dib had found himself in. Instead of being held in something similar to a jail cell, he was in something that he could only compare to the sort of interrogation rooms he saw on crappy human television shows. 

They were underground, but there was still a blindingly bright light shining down upon him, originating from a strange, glowing gem embedded in the ceiling. The sudden light burned into his large eyes the moment he opened them up, forcing him to squint them shut almost immediately after attempting to open his eyes. 

Upon taking in his surroundings, Zim tried to move, trying to stand up. When he only got pulled back down without being able to move much, he let out a low, guttural growl and began thrashing around against the tight, metallic bindings entangled around his wrists. 

“Ah you’re finally awake, I see.”

Completely ignoring the new voice, Zim cracked his eyelids open to continue taking in his new surroundings. The first thing he laid eyes on was the bindings trapping his wrists in place. He recognized them immediately- hey were the "alien handcuffs" Dib had made earlier that year. They had brought them along on their adventure, believing that they might be useful.

This wasn't exactly the situation he imagined himself being in with these restraints. 

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Snapped the creature across the room from him. 

It was only then that Zim bothered to look up and take in the sight of the creature before him. Unlike the one that had lead the two of them on their "tour", this one seemed far more similar to a fungus from Earth as opposed to a flower. Almost the entire lamella of the mushroom was a gaping maw, and while it was so different from that of an Irken or human’s that it was difficult to tell, Zim had a feeling that the motion they were doing was similar to baring their teeth at him. He might have found it more threatening if he had more respect for their species. 

When Zim continued to ignore them, they moved closer, continuing to speak, “We have some questions for you.”

“I’m sure you do,” Zim let out a soft chuckle, eyes narrowing, “Your inferior intellect must have a difficult time processing anything that’s just happened.”

They let out an irritated grunt, but brushed aside Zim’s comment, “What are you doing here,  _ Irken scum _ ? What does the Armada want with Valiaht?”

“How should we know that?” 

“You’re  _ one of them _ .”

Zim attempted to roll his eyes- one of the numerous human habits he had picked up from Dib over their time knowing one another- though it was ineffective without his contact lenses in. He may have been estranged from the Irken Armada, but that didn’t mean that he had no knowledge of them. He had still been a soldier for them for long enough to understand them and their motivations perfectly well. “What exactly would the Irken Armada want with  _ your  _ planet?”

They shifted slightly, almost nervously, and that’s when it clicked. 

Zim was an Irken and the people of this planet, even if indirectly, were working  _ against _ the Armada.

He smirked slightly, “What is it?”

“That is none of your business.”

“Oh, as an  _ Ikren _ , I think that it is.”

Zim did his best to meet at least one of the creature's eyes with a level, cocky grin. If they were worried that he and Dib were working with the Armada, then he was going to use that to their advantage. 

Every species was different- Zim had been around space and studied it in-depth enough to know that for certain. One of the many things that nearly all species had in common was their susceptibility to scare tactics. It seemed as though these creatures were no different.

“If you want to stay in the Armada’s good graces, I would suggest setting us free.”

“You have  _ nothing _ against us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you were too simple-minded to see the fault in that logic, but I doubt that that’s the case. I think you know  _ exactly _ what it is we have on our side. I think-”

Clearly growing fed up, the creature backed away from Zim, calling out to some others standing nearby. Without hesitation, they all headed over to where the two of them were, the four creatures moving to seize Zim and drag him off elsewhere. 

Without the handcuffs he had on, he would have had no problem fighting off all of them- hell, even  _ with _ the handcuffs he thought he stood a decent chance against them- but that would only help him so much. The only thing it would do was prolong the inevitable. If he were there on his own, he certainly would have tried his luck (and probably would have succeeded, too), but Dib was still stuck  _ somewhere _ in that planet and he had no clue where. Besides, without knowing where he was, he would have a difficult time locating his ship and he couldn’t even access his PAK to triangulate its location.

He put up very little fight as they lead him into another segment of the cavern. It consisted of the exact same stones and gems that the room he had been in previously had consisted of, but this one was entirely different. This one had  _ cells _ . 

Zim raised his antennae attentively as he realized that, fluttering them slightly. 

This room had cells, yes, but, more importantly, this area smelled like  _ Dib _ . 

It took only moments for that knowledge to seep in and, with it, he dropped all thoughts of even trying to escape at the moment. They were leading him  _ directly  _ towards his companion. 

Rudely, Zim was yanked from his thoughts as he was forced into one of the many strange cells in the room. Moments after he hit the floor and the strange metal bars forming the door to the cell swung shut, the creatures who had manhandled him fled the room, muttering amongst themselves about something that Zim didn’t bother to pay attention to. Instead, he waited until they were out of range.

Once they were far enough away, Zim opened his mouth to call out. 

“Zim?” Dib beat him to it.

“I’m here, now.”

“Good!” Relief was clear in the human’s tone, “I have a plan.”


	11. The Great Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Great Search and Rescue Sequence.

Zim hummed as he listened to Dib’s plan, “As great as that sounds, my PAK has lost all functionality.”

“What?” Dib sounded taken aback, “Did they break it or something?” His voice was laced with clear concern- he knew the importance of an Irken's PAK to their safety and survival. 

“No,” Zim sighed, “They found those _‘alien handcuffs’_ of yours in our ship and used them against me.”

Dib went quiet for a moment before letting out a soft snicker, “At least we know they work, now.”

Zim glowered at his words, “Yes, yes, that’s _very_ helpful information, right now.”

“Hey, don’t worry!” Dib’s voice didn’t hint at any concern about their situation (something Zim would have found annoying if he didn’t trust the human to come up with a decent plan), “I _made_ those cuffs, so I know exactly how they work- I can walk you through how to get out of them.”

Zim let out a sigh. He didn't like having to rely on others for help, but he supposed it wasn't a problem if that person was Dib. "Alright. What do I need to do?" 

“So, you see how, instead of the chain that they have on normal handcuffs, these ones have the long, flexible metal broken into segments for movement?”

“Yes?”

“Those can actually be moved around if you apply enough pressure to them. It’s sort of a puzzle. You have to twist all of them into a certain pattern.”

“What’s the pattern?” Zim tilted his antennae, “And how exactly am I supposed to determine when I’ve gotten the pattern correct if all of the pieces look the same?”

“You can’t really _see_ it, but you should be able to feel it. They’ll click a little when you do it. You’ll have to rotate them in the opposite direction of the one before it,” Dib explained, “To get the first one, you’ll have to just go by trial and error to see which direction you have to go, but, from there, it should be easy.”

“Alright,” Zim began to fiddle with the small notched connecting the two metal bindings enclosing his wrists, twisting them in different directions and moving carefully so that he could feel the small vibrations through the metal created by the faint sensation of them clicking into place. As Dib has said, it didn’t take too long before they all lined up, each of them having made the tell-tale noise of them interlocking correctly. When he finished, though, they didn’t unlock as he had anticipated. “Uh, Dib? I think there’s a problem.”

“Are they not clicking into place?”

“No, they all did, but nothing’s happening,” Zim squinted and listed the cuffs up to eye-level, scrutinizing them as he spoke.

Dib let out a snort, “There’s still one more step.”

Zim deadpanned, “You could have told me that beforehand.”

“I didn’t want to overwhelm you with alien handcuff knowledge,” Dib joked, “But the last step is simple. You see the two little green things on either side of the cuffs? Press down on those at the same time.”

Zim did as told, carefully lining up his claws before pressing down on them at the same time. “Why exactly did you have to make these so complicated?” He had to twist his wrists somewhat strangely to do so, but it worked, nonetheless.

“I needed a back-up for when I needed to unlock it, but I didn’t want it to be too easy to crack the code, just in case,” Dib answered, “Did it work?”

Zim smiled triumphantly as he stood up, pocketing the cuffs and he brought a laser canon out from his PAK and shot it at the bars before him, blowing them away from their resting positions. 

“Hell yeah!” Zim could practically hear Dib pumping his fists in celebration of their little victory, “Hurry up and bust me out of here, Space Boy. We have to get moving.”

“You’re pretty demanding for someone who’s relying on _me_ for help,” Zim pointed out, though there was no heat in his voice as he said it. He lined up the blaster once more as he spoke, “Careful, Dib-Thing, back up.”

Dib did as instructed, allowing Zim to blast the bars off of Dib’s cell just as he had his own, sending little shards of metal and mineral flying through the air. 

The two of them grinned and high-fived one another. 

Their victory was cut short, though, as the sound of voices and movement from above seeped down to them, warning them of what would be coming shortly. 

“We should get going,” Zim’s PAK legs shot out, raising him up off the ground ever so slightly. He extended one hand out to Dib in offering, “It’s faster this way.”

Dib nodded, a smile plastered across his face as he clambered into Zim’s arms before the went off, racing down the halls rapidly. The human was clearly excited- he had shown great interest in Zim’s PAK legs from the moment he had seen them and that hadn’t waned over their (admittedly somewhat short) time together. It had been obvious that Dib was intrigued by how they worked and wanted to experience them first-hand. This probably wasn’t how the human imagined it, but he looked thrilled nonetheless. 

As Zim held his companion close to him, his PAK legs carrying the two of them through the tunnels and towards their safety and freedom, he felt his face heat up slightly. Despite being the one to suggest it, he still found himself somewhat flushing from the close proximity that they shared (not that it was too foreign for them, but this was slightly different and something they hadn’t experienced together before). 

As the two of them attempted to make their escape from the strange planet, several of the natural plant-like residence tried to stop them. Their speed combined with the fact that they had caught them unawares made it difficult for the citizens of Valiaht to get anywhere near them and their goal, though. 

~~~

The metallic flash of PAK legs carried them quickly across the land, leaping above and dodging around any obstacles that lay in their way with practised ease. They may not have been wings, but they were _flying_ with them. 

Something stopped them in their tracks, though, and nearly had them tripping over themselves and tumbling to the ground with the speed they had to stop with. 

“Hi, Mary!” GIR waved up at them cheerfully, something clenched in his paw as he did so. 

“Not now, GIR,” Zim interrupted, one of his PAK legs shooting done to scoop the SIR Unit up and toss him into his arms, falling into Dib’s lap so that Zim wouldn’t have to struggle with juggling the both of them too much. He barely slowed down to grab GIR before he began sprinting at full speed once more, holding onto the two of them even more tightly than he had been before.

“Where are we goin’?” GIR asked Dib, tilting his head inquisitively, “Are we goin’ on another adventure already?”

Dib nodded, “Something like that-”

The human’s sentence was cut off and Zim suddenly changed their position. They were near the ship, finally, but several of the citizens were gaining on them. In a last ditch effort, Zim used the PAK legs to violently fling them through the air, aiming them towards the open door of the ship and retracting the legs once doing so so they wouldn’t slow them down. 

In nearly perfect unison, the three friends screamed, their voices being swept up by the wind pushing against them and carrying their cries out far away from them.

Thankfully, Zim’s aim had been true and it was mere second before the travellers crashed in through the opening in the ship, hitting the metal flooring with an aggressive thud and discombobulating all of them. 

Dib sat up, shaking his head to clear the shock of what had just happened from his skull. He only had a moment to recover, though, before he had to act. He sprang to his feet and smashed his fist into the control panel with far more force than necessary, drawing the door shut with a click of finality before anyone who had been pursuing them managed to get in. 

Zim got his bearings almost just as quickly and collapsed into one of the driver’s seats so he could begin steering the ship away from the surface of the planet. 

This time, their ascent was far less graceful and slow. Zim was in far too much of a rush to be careful with his job of steering and the force with which he moved the ship knocked Dib back off his feet once more, sending him to the ground once more. 

The momentum of their movement kept Dib pinned there for a few minutes before they were finally able to slow enough for the human to pry himself up off the floor. 

With a groan, Dib sat upright, though he didn’t move from his position on the floor. He rubbed at the side of his head where he had hit it when he fell for the second time, grimacing slightly. Thankfully, the fall hadn’t been too terrible either times and it didn’t seem as though the initial hti from the tree ent had been as bad as expected, either. It didn’t feel as though Dib had taken any damage that would last much more than a few days (though he would _definitely_ have a painful bruise on his head, at the very least). 

GIR remained completely oblivious as Dib checked himself for wounds and Zim frantically drove the ship away from the false safety of the planet they had landed on. GIR simply flopped back into Dib’s lap, looking up at the human. A small, dopey smile on his face as he held up whatever it was he was carrying, tiny paws clenched into a fist that completely hid it from view.

Dib sighed softly, dropping one hand down to pat the robot’s head, “What’ve you got there, GIR?”

“The key!” GIR beamed, dropped the key into Dib’s other hand expectantly. 

“The… key?” 

“Yup!”

Zim finally looked up from where he was staring at the control panel, practically burning holes through it with the intensity of his glare. His antennae quirked, “What key?”

“ _The_ key!” GIR insisted in lieu of explaining. 

Realizing that he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the robot, Dib brought the key closer to his face to inspect it. He turned it over in his hands gently, looking at the intricately carved metal that sat in his palms. It was crafted from some metal unlike anything on Earth and was delicately made. The place where one would hold the key was an array of carefully created branches strewn with flowers that were also carefully carved into the metal. The trunk of the tree acted as the blade of the key while the roots were all separated to one side, forming the notches of it that would work within the lock. 

“Is this the key to the cells?”

GIR nodded immediately, grin widening, “I was comin’ to get you!”

Dib blinked for a moment as that sank in before smiling softly. He may have been too late to help them much, but it was still adorable that the small robot had done that for them- it couldn’t have been easy. 

After handing the key back to GIR (who promptly swallowed it) Dib wrapped his arms around GIR, pulling the tiny robot into a hug, “Good boy, GIR.”

GIR immediately burst into a fit of giggles, hugging back with twice as much force as Dib was using. Out of the corner of his eyes, Dib could see Zim looking over at them. Despite the fact that concerns about what had just happened were clearly on Zim’s mind in some capacity, a small, fond smile tugged at the corners of the Irken’s lips. 

That mission was certainly far from a success, but, at the very least, all of them were together and okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things have been wild recently, so I haven't had as much time to dedicate to my craft. Please be patient. There are only so many hours of the day that I can allocate as designated "Go Freal Hours".


	12. Set Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they're off Valiaht and experiencing things they hadn't anticipated, Dib and Zim have some planning to do.

Despite the excited energy and confidence that they had gone into this mission with, the two friends had  _ no clue _ where to go from there. They had anticipated several different issues arising, but none of the issues that they had foreseen involved the issues that  _ actually _ arose. They had expected painful, complicated, and violent confrontations with the actual Irken Armada, but none of the issues that had occurred on the first planet they travelled to had been foreseen- in fact, Zim didn’t anticipate  _ any _ issues coming up on the first planet they travelled to, especially not issues that could be detrimental to them, had they not found a way to combat the obstacles that arose. 

Now that they  _ had _ had issues on their first planet, Zim was beginning to have new concerns about this mission. He didn’t think that this would be easy- he wasn’t so foolish as to believe that they would have no problems when going up against one of the most powerful empires in the universe- but he  _ didn’t _ anticipate issues revolving around his species. Of course, Zim had known that there was quite a bit of conflict between several different planets and that many citizens from planets scattered all across the galaxy feared the Armada the moment they caught wind of what they were doing with all of the power that they had. He knew that Irkens struck fear into the hearts of many, even if said Irkens were not Invaders, but Zim had never known the true extent of it. He didn’t think that any planet- let alone a planet so far behind them technologically- would ever even  _ attempt  _ to go against the actions of the Armada. He had always functioned under the belief that Dib was an outlier rather than the rule. He had always seen his valiant attempts to protect not only himself but his entire planet as well was not something that many other species shared. 

He had never expected their arrival to this planet to be met with violence in the way that it had been. Now that he knew what they would have to expect from every other planet they visited, Zim was beginning to feel a new kind of concern. 

Putting Dib in danger because they were going against the grain of what the Irken Armada wanted was one thing, but making Dib the enemy of the entire universe- an enemy to supporters and haters of the Irken Armada alike- was an entirely different thing. His revenge scheme was important to him- even more so now that he knew that there were other people in the galaxy like Dib (people who  _ meant something _ )- but his petty revenge meant very little when compared to how much Dib and his safety meant to him. He wanted to make the Empire pay for everything that they had done to him, and Zim wanted Dib to help him along with it, but he didn’t want to leave Dib’s life in ruins because of it. 

The Irken’s concerns went beyond that, too, though. He was also beginning to worry that Dib wouldn’t still be interested in following through on their mission after everything that had happened. Of course, this was what they had  _ expected _ to happen, but it hadn’t happened  _ how _ they had expected it to. Even if it seemed minuscule, that changed a lot about the entire experience. Instead of being able to experience all of the fun things that Dib had fantasized about space and adventure for years and easing into the more serious issues of the universe eventually, he was immediately being thrown into tackling one of the biggest problems out there. 

It was an even more complicated situation than he had previously thought.

Despite Zim’s concern about how the entire mission had gone, Dib didn’t seem too frazzled. Perhaps it was because he was too stupid to see the true danger that had just been confirmed to them, or maybe he was just too excited and confident to care one way or another, but, regardless of  _ why _ , Dib didn’t seem to be having any second thoughts. The human didn’t even seem to be harbouring any real fear or concern- at least not any more so than he had before.

“Alright,” the human righted himself, finally standing up and depositing the small robot onto the floor, “We should probably check the ship and make sure that they didn’t do anything bad to it while we were gone.”

Zim nodded before addressing the ship itself, “Computer, run a scan for damages and security breeches made in the past two hours.”

“Yes, Master,” sarcasm and boredom were thick in Computer’s voice, as per the usual, but he followed Zim’s instructions nonetheless, beginning to run a diagnostic to check on anything that may have happened while Dib and Zim had been trapped. 

Dib raised an eyebrow at that, eyes fixated on the small bar appearing on the side of the main screen that displayed the progress Computer made on the scan, “Is it really that easy?”

“Yes, but the diagnostic isn’t always perfect,” a combination of Zim not  _ entirely _ trusting Computer to check  _ everything _ and technology not always running perfectly (especially when said technology is trapped in a different “vessel”, of sorts) lead Zim to be somewhat mistrusting of how accurate the scan would  _ actually _ be, “We can double-check Computer’s work if you’re concerned, though.”

Dib shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “That might be a good idea. We should probably set course for ou next planet, first, though, so we can actually start making progress towards that.”

Zim cringed slightly, face scrunching up a bit at Dib’s words. While that was  _ obviously _ the smart course of action, there was very little they could do when he had no clue where to take them, next. Their oddly violent encounter at the previous planet had thrown off quite a bit of Zim’s plan and was making him wonder what they should even  _ do _ next. 

The human seemed to catch on to Zim’s concerns quickly and came over to sit in the chair next to Zim’s own, “You don’t seem as excited as you were before we left.”

“This is just becoming  _ slightly _ more complicated than I expected,” Zim waved a clawed hand flippantly as if trying to physically brush away the worries he had about the situation. 

Dib seemed unimpressed with his companion’s response, “You know that this is what I signed up for, right? I didn’t just come with you because I expected this would be all fun and games- I  _ knew _ that this would be dangerous work and that things wouldn’t go perfectly. Just because it happened a little sooner than expected doesn’t mean that I’m having second thoughts.”

"Dib-Thing…"

"Zim, I'm dead serious. I  _ want _ to do this. I wouldn't have agreed if I didn't. We'll be fine," Dib gave him a smile, "I'm not going to leave."

Zim couldn't help but feel himself relax slightly at that, muscles that he hadn't noticed tensing in the first place falling back into their normal position.

Despite the worries Zim had had about what would happen, it seemed like Dib was telling the truth- the human didn't plan on leaving him alone to fend for himself against the Armada. His friend wasn't going to force him to abandon this mission, either, it seemed.

It didn't seem like something that Dib would do, but, nonetheless, Zim found himself relieved that he had confirmation. He hadn't scared him off. They would be okay. 

"Computer," there was confidence in Dib's voice as he spoke, "Set course for the base of the Resisity." 

~~~

Looking back on it, if Dib was being honest, it had probably been stupid of them to just waltz onto the surface of that planet without expecting any backlash. Dib had never really known the extent of the power the Armada had over the universe or how many planets and species had been impacted by them in the past, but he really should have expected these people, at the very least, to react negatively to their arrival. This was a planet that was actively working with the Resisty. If they were working with that group, they  _ obviously _ knew of the Irken Empire and actively disliked them. Hell, it would have been strange for them to  _ not _ react to them just barging in on their peaceful afternoon. 

That was on them for not seeing it coming. They should have anticipated that eventuality. The fact that they hadn’t noticed meant nothing, though, in the grand scheme of things. Yes, it had caused them some problems at the time, but, now that they knew, they would be able to go through this mission far more prepared than they had been previously. This was  _ good _ ! As Professor Membrane had said in the past, failed experiments eventually lead to better results. 

Regardless, Dib understood why Zim seemed so… shaken up by the situation. He Hadn’t seemed too nervous about it when they were actually being held hostage- just irritated and uncertain- but that had changed once they got back to the ship. Dib could practically see the gears turning in Zim’s head as the alien’s anxieties got the better of him. 

Dib… knew what it was like to feel abandoned and thrown away, to say the least. While things had been slowly improving between him and his father, there the damage had still been done, and Dib had still been hurt by all of the things his father had said and done to him over the years. His father’s recent small changes, while greatly appreciated, didn’t stop the fact that Dib had gone through much of his life feeling like an abandoned failure because of him. He didn’t entirely hold it against Membrane, but that didn’t change that everything that had happened  _ hurt _ . Not only that but, much like the ex-Irken Soldier, Dib had been somewhat shunned and thrown away by his  _ own _ society. The majority of the people he had known in his life had eventually abandoned or turned against him after years of relying heavily upon him. They used him and threw him away. 

Nearly the same thing had happened to Zim with his own species. After years of putting forth his best effort and being incredibly loyal to them, throwing away everything to serve them, they tossed him back into the void of space as though he had never meant anything to them. They didn’t appreciate everything he had done for the Irken Armada and for the individual leaders. Despite everything that Zim had done for their entire species over his entire  _ lifetime _ , they saw him as little more than a joke and a nuisance. They laughed at him behind his back, secretly hating him despite taking everything he had and more and throwing him away once he lacked use to them. 

Naturally, Dib had some empathy for the other…

While Zim was  _ nowhere  _ near innocent (Dib knew of all of the damage he had caused over his long lifetime, thus far), Dib could still understand the Irken’s motivation. Even more so, he could understand Zim’s recently developed abandonment issues (Dib wasn’t certain that that was the right word for it, but what Zim seemed to have was close enough for Dib to consider them as such). 

After everything that had happened to the two of them both individually and together, Dib completely understood. He could see perfectly why Zim seemed nervous about the situation, even if he refused to let on about how concerned he seemed, and Dib was going to do everything in his power to ensure that his friend understood that, unlike the others, Dib would  _ never _ leave him. 

Saying it directly to him was… nerve-wracking to say the least. Dib had never been too amazing at genuinely and accurately expressing his emotions through words, and he had a feeling that the Irken wouldn’t be super receptive to hearing the phrase “I love you and I’ll never hurt you like they did”. No, he couldn’t just directly tell Zim all of that. 

He would just have to show him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch me barely updating my works because my schedule is wack-


	13. Not the Irken Insignia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib and Zim need to do something that clearly separates them from the Irken Armada.

“So,” Dib asked as he lounged back in his chair in front of the control panel, GIR curled up in his lap happily, “What are we going to do, now?”

Zim let out a sigh, propping his elbow up on the arm of his chair, “Well, our plan to go to peaceful planets wasn’t as helpful as we thought it would be, so that limits our options.”

Dib nodded, a frown crossing his features, “Is there anything we can do to get around that and  _ prove _ that we’re not associated with them?”

Zim’s own facial features twisted to mirror Dib’s own frown. Of course, there  _ were _ ways for them to do so, but, despite the fact that he had, in essence, already left the Armada officially, it was so ingrained in his mind that he was supposed to follow their instructions and be the perfect little soldier that breaking a stupid, simple rule like changing the symbol on his ship felt… wrong. Perhaps it had something to do with his PAK’s programming, or perhaps it was just because he had spent  _ hundreds _ of years of his life with what he was supposed to be being drilled into his head constantly. Regardless of why, Zim couldn't help but feel his organs twisting up inside him revoltingly at the mere thought of further betrayal- which only went to make him  _ more _ upset with himself. 

He didn’t think that this would be so difficult for him to do- let alone come to terms with. 

Considering the suspiciously concerned look on his face, Dib seemed to be catching on to the fact that Zim was thinking deeply about more than just their gameplan.

In an attempt to shake the other’s attention, Zim forced himself back to reality, “We can remove the Irken Insignia from the ship.”

“Don’t Irkens have a very specific way of building their ships, though?” Dib tilted his head to the side, and, though the concern faded slightly, it didn’t disappear, “Won’t other species be able to recognize it, by its design?”

“I believe it has been altered enough for us to go unnoticed by most.”

“Alright then,” DIb seemed to brighten slightly at the prospect of them at least having an immediate plan, “How can we do that? We can’t exactly just go out and paint over it or whatever.”

“Astute,” Zim snorted softly, the corner of his lip quirking up in amusement, the grin growing as Dib rolled his eyes in response to his comment, “We can change that from in here, it just takes a bit of time to do so. Our ships weren’t made with the intent of removing the insignia, just altering it.”

Dib nodded, “At least we have that as an option.”

Zim hummed in confirmation as he turned his attention back to the main control panel, hitting various keys to access what it was he would need for this project. It would take a bit of time, and the prospect reminded him of his reservations about this whole mission, but at least this could act as a decent distraction from the odd storm within his mind. 

~~~

Dib had brought along several notebooks and sketchbooks for their journey. He hadn’t anticipated utilizing it in  _ this _ situation, but at least he had had the foresight to bring it along.

Spread across the flat surface beside the control panel were several pages torn from Dib’s open notebook, some discarded ideas crumpled into balls laying alongside the pens the two of them were using as they brainstormed ideas.

Both of them expected designing a new symbol to take a minimal amount of time, but, what both of them seemed to not take into consideration, was the fact that the two of them could  _ rarely _ agree on even the simplest of things. 

They agreed that they wanted to decide upon something that would clearly keep them from being associated with the Irken Armada and they both silently agreed that they wanted their design to be cool enough to rival other designs (which they both  _ refused _ to admit was childish). 

Beyond that, though, there wasn’t much that they could agree upon. 

Considering the fact that both of them were highly creative and had fairly good artistic skills, there were many different suggestions from both friends. Every single design that one of them came up with, though, no matter how much time and thought was poured into it, was almost immediately shot down by the other. After declining one design, they would argue about why it was insubstantial and the other would attempt to best the previous design- which would restart the cycle once more. 

There was a lot of arguing and frantically scribbling on paper, but it  _ was _ a somewhat fun time. The art war reminded Dib of some stupid sketching games that he would play as a child when he got bored in class or something similar. Even the arguing was somewhat light-hearted (as much of their arguing had eventually evolved to be). He had to admit that it wasn’t the worst way to spend his time, even if it wasn’t the most thrilling, either. 

At this point, though, it was beginning to become less fun and more exhausting. The crumbled paper remains of their previous ideas scattered all around them had once been nearly  _ half _ of the notebook they were on and at least an hour had passed between when they initially started and the current time. They were putting forth far more effort than either of them had planned on and the charm of the activity was starting to fade.

“If we want to make it obvious that we’re not part of the Armada, why don’t we just put an ‘x’ over the symbol?” Dib suggested dully, “It may be basic, but it gets the point across.”

Zim scoffed the second Dib finished speaking, “That’s a terrible idea.”

Dib frowned despite not liking the idea very much in the first place, “At least it’s practice, unlike  _ some _ of your suggestions.”

“At least my suggestions have been ones of substance!” Zim defended.

“Oh, yeah,” Dib smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, “So the drawing of you was ‘of substance’.”

“ _ Obviously _ . I am a  _ wonder _ to behold.”

Dib snorted, drawing a displeased looked from his companion, “Yeah, well,  _ that’s _ definitely out.”

“And so is your foolish idea of just crossing out the Irken Armada’s symbol,” Zim crossed his own arms over his chest, mirroring Dib’s actions, “What? Is there no creativity left up in that big head of yours, Dib-Beast?”

“Hey!” Dib grabbed the nearest scrap of unapproved design paper and hurled it at him. The paper did nothing but weakly bounce off of the Irken’s forehead, making his lekku flutter at the disturbance. It was wildly tame compared to some of their past interactions, but it got his point across well enough. “I am  _ plenty _ creative- and drawing a mural of  _ yourself _ on the side of your ship isn’t exactly the peak of creativity and artistry, either, Bug.”

Zim let out an affronted gasp, “I  _ am _ the peak of artistry!”

Dib couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at that, “Sure you are.”

“I  _ am _ ,” Zim huffed, “Perhaps  _ you _ wouldn’t notice because of your  _ inferior _ human standards, but most other species would be star-struck but  _ all this _ .” He dramatically gestured to himself as he spoke, causing Dib to burst out into a fit of laughter. 

It took DIb several minutes to calm himself down enough from his laughter high to finally speak, “Okay, okay.  _ Either way _ , we’re not putting a picture of you on the side of the ship.”

“What if it was a picture of you and I?”

Dib would be lying if he claimed that he wasn’t at least a  _ bit _ of a narcissist. As good as that thought sounded, though, and as much as Dib would have  _ loved _ to see his name of picture emblazoned somewhere for the whole universe to see, he couldn’t see that going over very well. 

“As great as  _ that  _ sounds, that’s way too intense- plus it would be a way bigger and more detailed design than what we have to work with.”

Zim hummed thoughtfully, “I suppose you’re right.”

“What about…” Dib scribbled out a quick, simple design on a piece of paper as he spoke before shoving it over to the alien to see, “This?”

The Irken, once more, looked unimpressed, “You want our emblem to be a caricature of a ghost?”

“Why not?”

“We aren’t hunting  _ ghosts _ -” Zim paused, “We aren’t  _ just _ hunting ghosts.”

“But we  _ are _ hunting ghosts,” Dib pointed out, gesturing with his pencil. 

Zim crumpled up the paper and tossed it aside, signifying his blatant dislike towards it.

“Okay, okay, we’ll go with something else,” Dib raised his hands in defeat, “Does the Resisty have some sort of symbol?”

“Yes, and it is  _ awful _ ,” Zim’s features scrunched up in disgust at the very thought of it, “Besides, we’re not in association with them, yet. It would be confusing… and  _ tacky _ .”

“What does it look like?”

Zim grabbed yet  _ another _ scrap of paper from Dib’s steadily declining stash of his first notebook and began to scribble a design down on the surface of it. It was an oval with a stupid-looking alien symbol in the centre and the slogan “Resist or Don’t” written around it.

“Y’know what?” Dib nodded as he looked at the picture the Irken pushed in his direction, “I agree, let’s not go with that one.” The human took the liberty of crumbling up and discarding the paper. 

Zim nodded, kicking the paper away from him as though it had personally offended him as well as his entire species- although, at this point, he would  _ definitely _ not mind something causing offence to his entire species (or, at least,  _ most _ of him wouldn’t mind). 

“Okay, uhh… what if we make a planet the symbol?”

“What planet?”

“I don’t know, Earth?”

“Do you really want to put a target on your planet’s back like that?”

Dib frowned, “Good point…” This was proving to be far more difficult than either of them had expected. 

“We could still make just a generic planet design and keep  _ what _ planet it is nondescript?”

“That could work- maybe one that looks similar to Saturn, with a ring around it?”

Zim nodded, “That could work- maybe we can utilize the rings in some interesting way.”

“We could write a slogan or something in them!”

The two friends hunched over a fresh piece of paper, the two working together to sketch out a basic design for their vision. Now that they had some semblance of an idea that they could agree upon, their excitement was fully restored. 

“What should we write in the rings?” Zim asked as their pencils stilled over the barren rings of the planet. 

Dib hummed thoughtfully for a moment, “‘Space Cadets’?”

Zim deadpanned, looking entirely unimpressed with Dib’s suggestion, “‘Space Cadets’?  _ Really _ ?”

“Well, at least it’s  _ accurate _ ,” Dib huffed. 

Despite the shit that Zim gave him about the title- and the five minutes spent arguing back and forth about it afterwards- Zim ended up writing it in regardless. After adding a few details to the design, they had their finished piece and it was, finally, something that they could agree upon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a little update for all of you reading this as I'm posting it: During the Summer quarantine, I tried my hardest to update at least one of my stories every day or two and I'm still trying my hardest to get decent updates out as frequently as I can. Currently, though, I'm writing and entering other original works of mine for several different writing contests. Considering this could be very serious for me in several different ways, I'm going to be focusing the majority of my time and writing energy on these submissions for the contests. I don't plan on abandoning this work, nor do I plan on this impacting my updating "schedule" TOO much, but I still wanted to give all of you a heads up on this, regardless, just in case. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, even if it felt a bit like a "filler" chapter.


	14. Quiet Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is complicated and far from easy to deal with, even when you know what you need to do.

Foolishly, Zim had hoped that spending as much time as they did working on their design would distract him and buy them time, allowing him to both avoid thinking too deeply about what was currently happening and plan their next move. Although he  _ had _ succeeded in being able to somewhat push away his emotions to deal with later, he did very little to plan their next move. The longer they spent away from Earth, the more apparent it became that neither of them had fully planned out what to do. At this point, it was clear that both of them were just following the stars aimlessly like newborns not quite sure how to handle their place in the universe just yet. 

Thankfully, Dib seemed to have his shit together a little more, “We should contact the Resisty.”

Zim couldn’t tell if it was because Dib was just excitedly determined, impatient for something interesting to happen, or too moronic to worry too much about what they were doing. Perhaps their friendship had given him the delusion that going against the Armada wouldn’t be a difficult task, or perhaps his own lack of ties to the majority of his species left him unaware of Zim’s feelings about his oddly severed ties. Regardless of  _ why _ , though, he spoke with absolute confidence that Zim thought he didn’t have a right to (though he  _ did _ have to admit that it was at least  _ slightly _ admirable and nice to see in a human). 

“You sound confident,” Zim noted, finally speaking what was running through his mind, “Do you have a plan?”

“Not exactly, but this seems like our best option,” Dib explained, “They know that we- or, at least,  _ some _ Irkens- are out here and, as far as they know, we’re going to be causing trouble for them. The longer we avoid them, the more we’re going to seem like a threat rather than an ally.”

Zim supposed the human did have a point and nodded sagely along as he spoke, “True, true, however, that poses its own problems as well. We have no clue how to approach them without immediately having them initiate some sort of attack against us.”

“Okay…” Dib drew out the word as he thought, “You have escape pods, right? We could use those to get to them in a less direct way. It would, hopefully, at least give us enough time to get there before they try anything.”

“No, we got rid of the escape pods, remember?” Zim sighed, “We decided we wouldn’t need them and they would just take up space.”

“Right,” Dib scrunched up his face in distaste briefly, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to hope that changing the symbol was enough.”

Zim levelled a deadpan stare at the human, voice laced with disdain for the weak excuse of a plan, “Is that  _ really _ what you want to do?”

“ _ What _ we do isn’t as much of a problem as how quickly we do it is,” Dib explained, “They already see us as a potential threat and are targetting us because of it.”

“And barging into their base immediately after ‘threatening’ allies of theirs will make us look  _ less _ threatening?” Zim shot back. 

“Running will look  _ just _ as suspicious!” Dib defended, “ _ Besides _ , if they see us as a threat now, they may be preparing for a battle with us-  _ or _ they might move their base before we can get to it if they suspect we know their location and that will put us all the way back at square one. We  _ have _ to get there before they can make any plans to stop us.”

“...For something with a mortal vessel, you sure seem to enjoy throwing yourself into danger.”

“As if you’re any different,” Dib crossed his arms, shooting Zim a stare that matched the one the Irken had previously used to bore into Dib’s soul, “Do you have a better idea?”

After a long moment, Zim frowned and finally gave in, caving completely, “ _ Fine _ , I suppose we don’t have many other options. If we want to avoid suspicion, we’ll have to act quickly.”

A mildly triumphant grin spread across Dib’s face and Zim pointedly ignored it in favour of barking orders at Computer to set course for the base of the Ressity. “If you die because of this, I will personally pump you full of whatever chemicals required to resurrect humans so that I can  _ kill you _ again for being an idiot.”

Dib let out a snort that made it clear that he didn’t find Zim’s words threatening in the least as the two of them set to doing what little work they had to ensure they got there.

~~~

As a person who had grown up surrounded by strange happenings that no one else paid attention to but him, Dib had grown quite adept at observing little details that many other people would likely fail to pick up on. Although Zim was incredibly complicated and strange compared to the humans that Dib was used to constantly analysing from afar, he was no different from them in many ways. Just like the humans that populated Dib’s planet, Zim had small tells that gave away exactly what he was feeling, and- much like several of Dib’s peers- the former invader had never been incredibly proficient at concealing his emotions.

It was obvious that there was something bothering Zim. His shoulders were hunched as though the weight of the entire galaxy was pressing down on him- something extremely out of the ordinary for someone who was usually so picky about their posture. The tips of the irken’s antennae twitched slightly. Zim’s antennae moved quite a bit- both when expressing emotions and when he was seemingly using them for their hearing and smelling capabilities. Most of the time, though, when Zim’s antennae moved, it was the entire stalk rather than just the tips of them, making the action far more dramatic and obvious. These movements, however, were out of the ordinary. They were small and hardly perceivable, but Dib was nothing if not proficient at picking up the small details- especially when it came to his alien counterpart- and he knew exactly what those small movements meant, even if they seemed unimportant. 

Although the Irken had been very insistent upon not speaking about what his issues were ( _ shocker _ ), Dib had a feeling that the irken was still struggling with his conflicting emotions about the whole situation. He was not only turning against his own kind, but everything that he had dedicated his life to up until recently, as well. It was only natural to feel conflicted and lost, Dib supposed. 

It wasn’t until Dib began to think about what Zim was going through-  _ really _ thinking about it, not just briefly considering it in passing- that something occurred to him: what if this was too much for Zim? What if he returned to the Armada? What if he turned on Dib in favour of continuing to stand by his own species?

Dib quickly shook his head as if the action would somehow force the intrusive thought from his mind, his hair bobbing around as he did so. 

The two of them had worked alongside one another for such a long time and a great deal of that time together had been filled with them constantly at one another’s throats, distrust always between them. They had spent so much of their time together expecting the worst from the other one, always trying to tear the other down and thwart the plans the other carried.  _ That _ was in the past, though. They had gone through those times and were finally on a far more friendly and comfortable- albeit, far stranger as well- ground. 

They had gone through a great deal together, even if their time spent knowing one another hadn’t been incredibly long. Now was  _ not _ the time to start doubting Zim- not after they had changed the course of their lives and launched themselves into space together. They were much too far in to turn back, now. Even if they were warring species, they were friends and allies. Dib was attached to Zim and the feeling was clearly mutual. That wasn’t going to change now of all times, and DIb refused to let one stupid thought ruin this mission of theirs. 

Instead, Dib moved his chair, repositioning it so that he could sit closer to Zim. Some stupid instinct deep within him told him to put an arm around the alien’s hunched shoulders in an attempt to comfort his friend. He wasn’t sure how much the irken would appreciate that, though, so he settled for just resting his body weight on the arm of the chair closest to Zim in some strange attempt to make him feel less alone. 

Zim responded to the action almost immediately, quickly looking up from where he had previously been focusing on the control panel. One of his antennae perked up in question, “Eh? What is it?”

Fuck. Dib hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“You seem kinda out of it.”

Zim looked unimpressed.

Dib sighed and tilted his head back to stare up and out the window before them as he tried again, “I can tell that this is bothering you.”

Unsurprisingly, Zim scoffed at that, “Of course I’m not-  _ nothing _ bothers me.”

“Yeah, sure,” Dib rolled his eyes, “It’s… difficult to suddenly change your entire life and turn against everything that you thought you knew.”

“I’m a soldier, I can adapt to whatever I need to. Breaking routine isn’t a problem for me.”

“Change  _ itself _ may not be the problem, but it’s obvious that you cared about the Irken Armada a lot. It’s been at the epicentre of your world since you came into existence. You’ve been training to expand its power for  _ years _ . Leaving them-”

“I didn’t turn my back on the Armada- it turned its back on me,” Zim’s tone became sharp, a certain pain lingering in his words, “I left them because they forced me out.”

Dib nodded. He knew the technicalities behind the entire ordeal- at least to some extent- but that didn’t change the fact that the experience had to be… heart-breaking (or whatever the irken equivalent of that emotion was). 

“But, yes, being forced from the Armada was…  _ unpleasant _ ,” Zim closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. It was clear that he was choosing his words carefully, doing what he could to avoid saying anything that was too emotionally vulnerable (not that Dib could blame him- or claim that he was any different, for that matter). “If I could change what happened and return to them, I would- and I’ve tried- but I  _ can’t _ . I’m here now. I’ve found something better to fight for.”

The human blinked owlishly. Did he mean  _ him _ ? Was Zim implying that  _ Dib _ was what was worth fighting for? Of course, the friendship between the two of them had grown significantly since they first became acquainted with one another, but hearing Zim even indirectly saying that Dib was worth something was strange… and oddly pleasant. Still…

“You’re an Invader, it isn’t in your-”

“Dib,” Zim cut him off, sounding confident, as per the usual for the irken.

He turned to meet his friend’s gaze.

“I’m doing this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Finally updating after a month-long hiatus? Perhaps. 
> 
> I won't sugar coat it- this chapter is kind of trash, but the next one will be fun! ...whenever I get to THAT.
> 
> I am... technically not done with any of the shit that I went into hiatus to complete, but I got bored and sad, so I wanted to come back to working on this. I missed it (and reading you guys' kind comments), too much. :')


	15. Anti Armada

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Dib and Zim run into the people they have been searching for... the experience is entirely unexpected.

Thankfully, the cruiser was not far from the Resisty's current base, so the voyage there would not take too long. Unfortunately, that meant they had far less time than Dib and Zim wanted to prepare for their meeting with whatever members of the Resisty they just so happened to stumble upon first. 

The limited time did not stop them from preparing to their full ability. though. 

Zim was already heavily equipped with, essentially, the best armour and weaponry in the galaxy built right into his body. His PAK would heal him as necessary, for the most part, and he had plenty of incredibly powerful weapons hidden within- both ones made for all irkens and ones of his own design- to use whenever the need arose. He was fully decked out without looking any more imposing than usual. 

His human counterpart, however, was not so lucky. 

Sure, Dib was fairly strong and capable for a human and he could hold his own in a fight surprisingly well, but that didn't change that he was one- comparably weak- creature against dozens of others. Although Zim had never seen the Resisty as much of a genuine threat, there were very few times that he had actually interacted with them and he has, obviously, never seen any of them in combat against Dib. He had no clue to predict how well Dib would do up against them- especially considering his limited experience with the Resisty had occurred ago. 

With that in mind, Zim ignored doing anything to further prepare himself for battle and focused entirely on his human friend. 

"We have to be as prepared as possible-"

"But we want to seem non-threatening so they don't try to kill us on sight," Dib finished. 

Zim nodded, "I have no problems with that for obvious reasons, but your inferior human meat-vessel does not have the same capabilities. We'll have to find alternatives."

Dib rolled his eyes at the comment- not that it was anything new, "You're forgetting something, Bug."

Zim tilted an antenna to the side, gesturing for the other to continue. 

With a dramatic flair that rivalled Zim's own, Dib threw his arms out, catching the sides of the tail of his trench coat and tossed at the extra fabric, letting it billow out behind him theatrically.

Zim frowned slightly, "As cute as  _ that _ display was, I don't see how that could be helpful." 

Dib settled one hand on his hip, the other coming up to raise his middle finger at the irken pointedly, "My trench coat isn't  _ just _ to look cool- it has a crazy amount of pockets and it's long enough to hide whatever it is I need. I can  _ easily _ keep a bunch of weapons in me without tipping anyone off with this!"

"Fair enough…" Zim mused, tapping two of his claws together thoughtfully, "Let's head to the Armoury."

The "Armoury" was a very generous title for the metal cupboard hiding away their array of weapons. It had been lovingly dubbed as such less because it was an accurate title for the area and more because they thought it was a cool one. It was incredibly meagre by most standards, but, at the very least, it was something- besides, the weapons contained within the sliding panel of the wall were far superior to that of any weapon of earthen origins, so they supposed it worked out. 

With a quiet hiss and a whirr that could be heard only faintly to Zim, even with his heightened hearing, the door to the area containing their weapons slid open, revealing what was inside. 

Considering they were the ones who had loaded and organized the weapons within that section of the wall and several of them had even been altered- or built in their entirety- by the duo, they were both familiar with every piece in there. Regardless, Dib let his eyes linger over the different weapons for a moment. It was clear that he was weighing his options carefully. Before Zim could intervene and influence his decision, Dib grabbed a couple of weapons to stash away. 

Dib collected the smallest weapon- an electric laser gun- that he tucked into his tall combat boots. The only other weapon that he pocketed was a far larger one than the easily hand-held one he had slipped away earlier. Although it would be more difficult to conceal it, this weapon was a far more powerful and one that Dib was slightly more used to- although he had not used either of them in excess before. The larger gun consisted of brighter, fluorescent colours (irkens were drawn to bright colours, even if Zim denied that his species was that primal) that made it seem far more tame and friendly than it actually was, making it a favourite for both of them. This one, Dib tucked into his belt behind his back, the tail of his trench coat keeping it completely hidden from prying eyes. 

Finally, Dib secured the gaming-headset-like translator to his head. Despite the chances of them getting attacked when they went in, this  _ was _ supposed to be an offer of peace and allyship, so being able to communicate in whatever languages they spoke was important.

Zim tilted his head at his friend as he watched him suit up. Although he wasn’t bringing anywhere near as many weapons with him as Zim had, it was nearly impossible for Dib to be anywhere near as prepared as Zim was- unless, of course, he had a PAK as well (something that Zim had thought about more than he would like to admit, but refused to bring up to his human, just yet). Besides, Zim couldn’t help but trust the human, even if he came from a naturally far weaker species. Just based off of the fact that Zim was an irken up against a human, he should have been able to kill Dib long ago, yet his battles with him had been, admittedly, a bit of a struggle, despite everything that Zim had over the human. 

Zim believed in Dib’s abilities. 

“So,” Zim tilted his head at Dib questioningly, “Are you ready?”

In all honesty, between the two of them, Dib seemed far more ready than Zim did. The irken was slightly apprehensive about taking such a big step towards his opposition of the Irken Armada. Still, he refused to let that stop him, even if the internal conflict of the situation made it far more complicated than he had always imagined whenever he fantasized about taking Dib on adventures through space.

Dib grinned, “I was  _ born _ ready.”

“I don’t think that’s how you worm babies work.”

~~~

Dib could sense the lingering apprehension that practically radiated off of his friend, even if it was clear that the irken didn’t want to show it. Regardless, it was clear that the irken was just as determined as Dib was to go through with this- if not more so. 

“Are you ready?” Dib parroted the same question the irken had asked him mere minutes ago as they drew nearer to the base. 

“Of course I am!” There was no hesitation in Zim’s voice as he answered his friend’s question. 

Dib nodded in return, “Okay, let’s go, then.”

Instead of attempting to sneak in as they had discussed long ago, they decided that entering through the actual main entrance would be less suspicious and make the others less likely to attack them. It made Dib feel slightly uneasy and vulnerable (rule number one of infiltrating your not-quite-enemy-not-quite-friend’s lair was remaining stealthy,  _ regardless _ of the situation), but he understood why they were doing what they were. 

They lingered at the exit of their space ship for only a moment before the allowed the doors to slide open and finally stepped out. 

For some reason, Dib had anticipated an immediate attack. He had mentally prepared himself for the two of them to be swarmed by a rabid group of members of the Resisty the moment they stepped out. 

Instead, there was just silence. 

The two of them shared a look before making their way towards what Dib could only assume was the front door to their base. The moment the large doors opened, though, they were met with what DIb had been anticipating happening when they first arrived- a line of Resisty members, all with their weapons aimed at the two of them, poised and ready to strike. 

Dib took a step back, getting himself into a fighting stance, his right hand drifting back so he could quickly grab his own weapon when he needed to. 

Zim readied himself for a battle as well, rearing up on his PAK legs to give himself a better vantage point, just in case. 

They had to be ready to defend themselves- that much was obvious. Still, this mission was supposed to be an offer of peace, not a demand of battle. They needed to get that across before things spiralled out of control. 

“Uh,” Dib adjusted the mouthpiece of his translator slightly, ensuring that he was speaking clearly and directly into it so the others could understand him, “We come in peace-?”

He really could have thought about what he was going to say more before they stepped off the cruiser. 

The members lined up before them regarded Dib strangely, some of them allowing their gaze to flicker to their companions as if silently asking them what they thought about the situation. 

Zim, on the other hand, had a far less quiet response (as always). 

The irken fixed Dib with an unimpressed little glare, “‘We come in peace’? Why are you quoting those stupid earth movies about ‘aliens’?”

“This isn’t the time to be critiquing my word choice, Zim!” Dib glared. 

Before the two could bicker any more, a voice- with what Dib processed as a thick British accent (he had no clue how  _ that _ had happened)- cut in, “STOP, lower your weapons.”

There was only a moment’s hesitation of the small group before they all lowered their weapons, following what DIb assumed to be their leader’s instructions. 

“Did you say  _ Zim _ ?” It was the same heavily-accented voice that had spoken before, “Are you  _ the _ Zim?”

Dib’s eyes flicked over to Zim, meeting his eyes, “They… know you?”

“Of course they know me- everyone has heard of the Almight Zim!” he assured, sounding cocky as he slowly lowered himself back down, retracting his PAK legs as it became clear they likely weren’t facing any immediate danger, “But, eh, how  _ do _ you know me?”

Dib rolled his eyes dramatically at the antics of his idiot friend before returning his attention to the small crowd before them. There was a small ripple of murmers running through the lineup, though their voices were all so quiet and jumbled that Dib couldn’t quite discern any specific words. 

A strange, robotic creature with a large, triangular head floated slightly closer to them, “Of course we know of you- you’ve done so much to destroy the Irken Empire!”

Once more, the two friends shared an awkward side glance, each blinking owlishly in mild confusion. 

“Eh…” Zim spoke quietly, awkward discomfort dripping from the single sylable. Dib didn’t know if he had ever heard the irken sound quite like that before. It was a minimal enough reaction to not be obvious to the others, but, to Dib, it was clear that Zim was uncomfortable. 

“You’ve killed two of their leaders,” a horned, fly-like creature chimed in, “And you stopped Operation Impending Doom One before it even got off the ground! You’re practically a hero here, for everything you’ve done.”

Dib’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Zim had told him a great deal of things about his civilization and what his life had been like leading up to when he landed on Earth, but that… was something that he hadn’t known. Just how much had Zim  _ done _ to the Armada before he landed on Earth?

Zim looked conflicted about those words, to say the least, but he plastered on one of his typical high-and-mightly grins, “Of course I am.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Dib spoke up, wanting to divert the conversation before anyone brought up anything that would make Zim, “That’s not what we’re here to discuss, though.”

“What are you here to discuss, then?” The person who owned the thickly accented voice finally spoke again, steping to the front of the group to finally show themselves. They looked like a grey goat but their curved horns were more reminiscent of metal than anything else. 

“We’re here to join you,” Dib explained. 

They hesitated for a moment before smiling, “That... can be arranged.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my stars. I am so tired... and I want fruit juice. 
> 
> I plan on this being quite a bit longer than this, but I already have the final chapter outlined in my head. LADKsjsdklfj. Writing is hArd, you have to write things in order and stuff. Disgusting. 
> 
> I apologize for rambling, but I am extremely tired. LAKjlskjff.


	16. Welcome to the Resisty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Resisty may not be sold on Dib, but, unfortunately, they need him if they want Zim.

Despite how much Zim enjoyed bragging about how he was known all across the galaxies and how he was universally beloved, he had  _ not _ anticipated their attempts to join the Resisty to go as they had. Between the two of them, Zim had assumed that Dib would be the one that they trusted. Considering that Zim came from the species that they existed to destroy while Dib was just from some random, strange alien species that none of them had heard about, it seemed like a reasonable assumption to make. It made  _ sense _ for them to hate Zim and be wary of him while only being  _ slightly _ cautious of Dib (though Zim had honestly expected them to welcome the human into their ranks with open arms considering how puny their group was). 

Them almost immediately trusting Zim and being suspicious of  _ Dib _ , though?  _ That _ was unexpected. 

Sure, Zim would admit, Dib was strange and unknown by them- they had never come into contact with humans (as far as he was aware- and Zim was fairly certain that he would  _ know _ if anything like that had happened on Earth). He could understand them being a little confused by the new species, but the amount of aggression levelled at the human was a bit excessive.

At all times, the majority of the members of the Resisty kept their eyes on Dib, watching him as though they didn’t trust him to take a single breath of air without doing something to hurt them in the process. They even had the audacity to “escort” him around the ship. It was clear that they weren’t going to let him out of their sight willingly anytime soon and Zim didn’t appreciate it.

(There was a part of him that acknowledged the fact that he was being a bit hypocritical considering the fact that he had regarded Dib in the exact same way when they had first met, but he refused to give that too much thought.)

The creature that was clearly their leader finally introduced himself. His name was Lard Nar and Zim would be lying if he said he had paid much attention to anything else the alien had told him during their introductions of one another. Instead of paying careful attention to his soon-to-be new leader, Zim allowed his mind to wander, pondering how exactly he and Dib were going to salvage the Resisty. If the small group of people they had seen when they first arrived was the extent of their forces, then Zim had some concerns about how successful a coup against the Armada would be. 

His attention was brought back to the present finally when Lard Nar asked Zim to come with him to work out the details of their alliance.

When he and Dib began to follow him, though, he paused, shooting Dib an uneasy look, “Ah, would you wait here?”

Immediately, Zim and Dib levelled Lard Nar with matching glares of disgust and question.

“ _ Why _ would he do that?”

A look of something similar to apprehension crossed Lard Nar’s face and that told Zim everything he needed to know.

Before Lard Nar had the opportunity to speak and answer the question Zim had posed, Dib began talking again, "I'm willing and able to help your cause and, with how powerful the Armada is, you'll  _ need _ all the extra help you can get."

Zim nodded as Dib spoke, "Dib is with  _ me _ and I will not be leaving him behind just because you  _ fear _ the human.”

A small, strange smile flickered across Dib’s face for a moment, though it vanished too quickly for Zim to truly confirm that it had ever been in there in the first place. Still, it seemed the human appreciated what he had said.

Lard Nar hesitated for only a moment before nodding, "Alright. Follow me." 

He led the two of them away from the others and down the hall, making Zim frown. Willingly turning your back on an enemy and potential threat was stupid- even for someone who  _ wasn't _ attempting to topple one of the largest and most powerful forces in the universe. Lard Nar was either an idiot or trying to prove that he wasn't scared of Dib. 

Zim had a feeling it was the former. 

The room that Lard Nar lead them into was circular and barren, the walls made of the same dull grey metal that made up the interior of the rest of the base that they had already seen. There was very little furniture in the room save for a desk with a few random items scattered across its surface and one chair on either side of it.

Lard Nar took a seat and gestured for them to do the same.

Zim was unimpressed by there only being one chair for them to use and was too stubborn to either let Dib remain standing or do so himself. He wasn’t going to allow one of them to be forced out of the conversation to conform to whatever weird feelings Lard Nar had against Dib. Instead, he perched on one arm of the chair, only halfway sitting in the seat that was offered to them. 

Dib (having an intellect  _ clearly  _ superior to Lard Nar’s), caught on quickly and followed suit, sitting comfortably on the other side of the chair so that they could effectively share it with one another. It was somewhat cramped considering how small the chair was, but they were able to make it work. 

At the somewhat uneasy look that Lard Nar gave them, Zim’s antennae twitched with irritation.

Either Dib picked up on Zim’s subtle expression of annoyance or was feeling it himself as well because he didn’t let the silence linger for much longer than it already had, “Okay, so?”

“So-?” There seemed to be some nervousness behind the leader’s (and Zim used that term very loosely) words. 

Dib rolled his eyes and Zim mirrored the sentiment even though the action was unreadable on him. 

“What do we need to discuss so that we can become allies?” Dib elaborated, gesturing for Lard Nar to explain. 

“Ah,” Lard Nar took a breath to steel himself, “We’re going to need more information regarding your abilities to determine that.”

“What do you need to know?” Dib asked. 

“Basic information about your battle and strategy capabilities.”

Zim snorted, “What what kind of ‘battle and strategy capabilities’ do the citizens of Valiaht have?”

“Well, they were able to capture you-”

Dib had to bodily grab Zim to prevent him from lunging at and tearing apart the infuriating knock-off goat sitting before them, though the way Dib narrowed his eyes told the irken his feelings about Lard Nar were seconded, “We didn’t exactly anticipate getting attacked the second we set on foot on a supposedly  _ peaceful  _ planet.”

“That’s what makes them beneficial!”

Zim stilled and let out a sigh while his human slumped in their chair slightly, “...I suppose that makes sense.” Begrudgingly, he  _ did _ have to admit that concealing one’s true aptitude was a decent strategy, even if it wasn’t one that he was very fond of.

“The fact that we were able to escape from them so easily and without sustaining any serious damage  _ proves _ our abilities,” Dib began, “Besides, you need  _ all _ the help you can possibly get if you ever want to  _ actually _ take these people down. They aren’t just a rag-tag team of random people from across the universe thrown together randomly- they consist entirely of people  _ born _ to be soldiers. They know what they’re doing. If we have any chance, we need as many people as possible. We need to work together to get this done.”

Zim smiled somewhat fondly as Dib spoke.

Lard Nar seemed to consider, eyes flickering between the two of them. When his eyes met Zim’s, he paused and thought for a brief moment, the realization that he wouldn’t be able to get Zim without Dib as well finally seeming to sink in. 

Admittedly, Zim being such a terrible irken soldier that he practically tore the Armada apart by its seams every other week wasn’t exactly the thing he wanted to be known for. He didn’t want people to know how horrible he had- _evidently_ - been at being one of his own kind. Being known as a traitor who practically destroyed his own home planet and people wasn’t the thing he was most proud of, but at least that bode well for their current mission- and at least it sounded as though these people thought his actions against the Armada were intentionally rather than disastrous accidents.

“You do have a point,” Lard Nar caved, giving them a crooked smile that lacked much emotion behind it, “Welcome to the Resisty!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, homies, shit is really wild right now and, on top of all of the normal chaos at the moment, it is currently Tech Week for the play I'm on tech crew for, so things are hectic. I apologize for my current lack of any structure for getting new chapters out, but, I am working on that.


	17. I Spy

Technically, Zim and Dib may have been part of the Resisty, but that didn’t mean that they were acclimating to the new situation very well. Neither of them was too thrilled about attempting to befriend their new comrades, even if they were supposed to be allies, now, and the majority of the members of the Resisty still seemed somewhat sceptical of Dib, as infuriating as that was. 

Regardless, they still had to do their best to work with the others there. They didn’t have an option to entirely avoid them all- not unless they were willing to let their mission suffer as a result of the awkwardness between them. They had already committed to going up against the Irken Armada and they weren’t going to step down just because the other members were harbouring strange feelings towards the two of them. 

After their discussion, Lard Nar gathered the majority of the members together in the main room of the base. Although it had begun with them all discussing what their next move would be with their new members, the conversation seemed to be quickly straying from its original topic. 

Dib and Zim rested on the outskirts of the small blob the group formed in the centre of the room, leaning side-by-side up against a large window panel rather than fully immersing themselves within the crowd. Although they had initially attempted to stay up to speed with the conversation happening, it was quickly becoming clear that the attention span of the entire room was pretty similar to GIR’s. Dib knew that Zim didn’t have the best attention span and could sometimes be easily distracted by stupid things, but, in general, when it came to important things, he could manage staying on track.

For the most part, they were able to keep up with the conversation. When the strange green blob creature vomited a sickly purple substance all over itself in the midst of speaking, though, it became abundantly clear that Dib’s severely germaphobic friend would not be able to continue focusing on what was happening.

At least they could say they tried their best.

Somewhat uncomfortably, Zim averted his eyes from the sight of the odd being, face scrunched slightly, “Clearly, this is getting us nowhere.”

“Yeah,” Dib nodded, eyeing the sight before them. He had never been a particularly squeamish person, nor had he ever been too affected by the threat of germs like his companion was (something he used to tease the alien relentlessly about), but he had to admit that there was something unsettling about the sight. 

“Something tells me that isn’t going to change anytime soon,” Zim sighed, “Do you have any thoughts on the matter, Beast?”

Dib largely ignored the nickname. Despite the generally negative connotation it held, the two of them had been friends for long enough for them to both fully understand the camaraderie in the stupid nicknames. Besides, there were more pressing matters at hand than what Zim was calling him. 

Specifically, Dib had to wonder about Zim’s past. If the Armada had bothered going to such lengths to get rid of Zim, and if what the others had said about Zim killing their previous leaders was true (something he made a mental note to talk to the irken later on about), then it was likely that this was not the first time they had attempted to get rid of him. If that was the case…

“Zim,” Dib searched for the words carefully, not wanting to upset his friend by phrasing his question in a too insensitive manner, “Did the Armada ever try to get rid of you before?”

The uneasy look that spread across his friend’s face made Dib immediately feel guilty, but Zim answered before he could attempt to take his words back, “Technically,  _ yes _ .”

“And… you went back?”

“Of course,” Zim explained, “I was taught to be as determined as possible and to never give up on my mission for the Armada, regardless of what happened,” the irken scowled slightly, “But you can only do that for so long when your entire species is, apparently, against you.”

Dib frowned slightly. As relieved as he was that Zim had left the dangerous dictatorship that ruled over the universe, he had to admit that he felt bad for his friend. Being abandoned like that was difficult. He didn’t want Zim to have to suffer like that and he almost wished that he had never had to.

That wasn’t what he had to focus on, now, though.

“How exactly did they go about doing that?”

Zim just twitched one antenna to the side, clearly not entirely understanding the question. 

“Like, did they directly tell you to leave or were they more subtle like they were when they first sent you on your “mission” to Earth?”

The irken hesitated for a moment, facial expression morphing slightly as he thought, “I suppose they probably  _ did _ make more subtle attempts to get rid of me in the past, but I didn’t realize it back then… There was one occasion when they directly told me to leave, though. They banished me.”

“But you ignored them and returned to the Armada?” Dib pressed. 

“ _ Yes _ , I came back,” Zim sounded exasperated, “What does that have to do with anything? If you’re going to bother talking, be useful.”

Dib scowled for a moment, but didn’t let himself be deterred, “What I’m  _ getting at _ is, theoretically, would it be believable to the members of the Armada if you returned again? Even after this?”

“That isn’t out of the realm of possibility,” Zim frowned, “Why?”

“You could return and act as a  _ spy _ for the Resisty,” Dib explained, grinning slightly, “Since it wouldn’t be too unusual for you to return, it probably wouldn’t seem too sketchy. Even if they don’t completely trust you and want you there because of everything that’s happened, you could probably find ways to get us valuable information or sabotage them from the inside.”

Realization dawned upon the irken’s face, blinking slightly as he processed everything his human companion was telling him. 

For a minute, Dib was concerned that he had managed to offend the irken, but it wasn’t long before Zim grinned, “For a human, you can be a genius, sometimes.”

Dib couldn’t help but wear a grin that matched Zim’s, “Great. Let’s get control of this conversation. 

In tandem, Dib and Zim pushed themselves away from the window wall, stepping slightly closer to the group in the centre of the room so they could get everyone’s attention and see and hear them all clearly.

“EVERYONE,” Zim called loudly, catching everyone’s attention and drawing it away from the current speaker- someone who looked like a lavender, levitating screw with a face, “We’ve had a thought.”

~~~

Zim had to admit that Dib’s idea was a good one- especially when compared to the upside-down cone’s ideas to aimlessly shoot canons at the Massive. The idea of returning to the Armada now hat he knew they hated him was… less than appealing, and being there while actively working against them made his skin crawl in a way that it hadn’t in a very long time. His PAK screamed at him that this plan was treason, but he ignored the silent voice deep within his bones. Dib had a point: with someone on the inside, they would be able to make far more progress than they could otherwise. 

Still, there were a few other things he needed to know before he could say without a doubt that he would be able to go through with this. 

“From my experience with the Armada, they don’t see the Resisty as much of a threat. It barely pops up on their radar as something they should  _ consider _ worrying about.”

A sour expression twisted its way onto Lard Nar’s face, “Encouraging…”

Zim ignored him completely in favour of continuing to explain, “For this plan, that’s  _ good _ .”

“How so?”

“If they don’t know that a threat even exists, they aren’t going to be worried,” Dib cut in, “That will make it seem  _ way _ less suspicious when an ex-irken returns to them. They won’t suspect any fowl-play.”

Lard Nar nodded, seeming to take everything into consideration, “That does make sense…”

Spleenk- a sort of misshapen, celadon coloured creature with four arms who seemed to have about an equal intellect to that of the strange pink cone- spoke directly to Lard Nar, “We should do it!”

Somehow, hearing the other alien agree with him made Zim second-guess their plan.

“Do you  _ really _ think we can pull this off?” Lard Nar’s barely-visible eyebrow-ridges drawing together in poorly hidden concern. He fidgeted slightly where he was sitting, eyeing Zim and Dib with equal worry and genuine question. 

Zim had to take a breath to steady himself. This course of action, as good as it was, was something that could hurt him greatly. It was risky to go directly against the Armada like this while pretending to believe he’s one of them. Every part of his irken instincts told him that this was the dumbest thing he could possibly do- something that could only end in his painful, inevitable death at the hands of the other members- the  _ real _ members- of the Armada. 

Regardless, it seemed as though it was the best they had, for now.

Besides, there was a small, disgusting part of him that  _ wanted _ to do this. It was the same part of him that had driven him to go against the Armada in the first place- the part of him that wanted to see them crash and burn in a chaotic, painful hellfire. As wrong and idiotic as it felt, the desire to hurt them the way they had hurt him- no,  _ beyond  _ the way they had hurt him- was a great one. He wanted to destroy them for pushing him to the side, even if doing so strayed so far from his programming that it caused him physical anxiety. 

He was conflicted deeply, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t truly have a choice- there  _ was _ no choice for him to make. As it was, he could either go through with this or back down like the pathetic, useless coward the Armada saw him as.

Zim was  _ not _ one to back down and that wasn’t going to change just because he was no longer an invader.

“Of course I can do this; I am Zim.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest... the last few chapters of this have had work in progress titles somewhere along the lines of "Chapter Eighteen (or some shit?): Oh Man, I'll Title This Later" and I think it's important for you all to know that I have no concept of numb3rs.
> 
> Also, the play I was in got shut down (for now, at least), so, hopefully, I'll get semi-regular updates out again. (':


	18. For a Human

Dib would be blatantly lying if he said that he wasn’t worried about Zim going back to the Armada, even if he knew that Zim wasn’t  _ truly _ returning to them. It had been his idea, yes- and he  _ still _ stood by the fact that it was a good one- but that didn’t change the fact that the situation was more than a little risky. 

Although Dib had only known Zim for approximately a year, he had learned many things about the irken- both through spying on him blatantly during the dark ages of them trying to take one another down, and through Zim willingly telling him once they became friends. 

One of the many things he had learned about the alien over the year of knowing one another was that Zim was, generally, a  _ horrible _ liar. 

The alien had so many tells that it was incredibly obvious whenever he was lying. He could rarely think of lies on the spot, frequently taking long pauses to think of a cover story to hide whatever the truth was in the situation. Oftentimes, he would end up blurting out information that would hurt him and his mission unintentionally, his excitement regarding whatever information he was supposed to be keeping incognito overwriting the benefits of keeping it secret. Zim frequently became awkward and stuttered while he was lying in a similar fashion to characters in cheesy television shows. 

Dib knew that there was at least a slight chance that the Armada would see right through him and know that  _ something _ was up. Although it was incredibly unlikely that they would understand the exact situation, it was still a possibility that they would know Zim was acting as a spy and end up doing… well, Dib didn’t want to think about what irkens did to traitors. 

Even if the members of the Armada  _ didn’t _ pick up on the fact that Zim was acting as a spy for some secret organization planning to overthrow them, there was still a chance that they would be infuriated by the fact that he returned regardless. 

While Dib didn’t know the details of what had happened between Zim and his leaders before the invader was finally released from the Armada, he knew that, whatever had happened, had  _ not _ gone well. Zim had “unbanished” himself before. When it happened the first time, they simply sent him on a mission to kill him- or, at the very least, get him out of their hair (or, well, lekku). This time, though? Zim might not be so lucky. 

Dib let out a quiet sigh. He was worried, but he  _ did _ trust Zim and, while he wasn’t  _ incredibly _ confident in the abilities of the members of the Resisty, he was confident in his own abilities. If Zim ended up in danger, Dib would do everything in his power to save his friend from whatever situation he wound up in.

At the sight Dib let out, Zim’s antennae twitched- either from picking up the sound or in question- and he opened his mouth to speak. 

Before the irken had the chance to say whatever it was he was trying to communicate, Lard Nar turned from the food he was focusing on. “So…” he gestured to Dib’s glasses vaguely, “What exactly are those for? They don’t look sturdy enough to protect your oculars from sustaining any damage.”

One thing that Dib didn’t particularly enjoy about the base of the Resisty was how open it was. While there were specific rooms for certain things and most of the members had their own quarters, to some extent, they were still all, generally clumped together throughout the day, making it difficult for Dib to brood on his own like he so often did back on his home planet when he still lived with his sister and (to an extent) father. He wasn’t used to living with so many people in one space.

On the bright side, it kept him from getting too lost in his own thoughts (which he would only  _ partially _ admit to being a plus-side to this situation). He did have to admit that there were  _ some _ things he liked about not eating every meal alone (though this wasn’t much better than eating at school with all of his classmates, at least the majority of the people here were smarter than them).

“They’re not for protection,” Dib explained, one hand coming up to adjust his glasses subconsciously as he spoke, “They help me see.”

“Ah, so they enhance your visions.”

“Not exactly- My eyes aren’t the correct shape, which makes it difficult for me to see normally like other humans. These glasses are supposed to correct that so I  _ can _ see like normal.”

“Do they work?” Ixane (one of the more intelligent members of the Resisty, Dib discovered) asked.

Dib nodded, “For the most part, but they’re not perfect.”

The entire time he had been sitting in the makeshift mess hall Dib had been silently zoning out and thinking, entirely ignoring the plate of food before him. Now that he had been drawn from his focus on the possibilities of the future, he couldn’t continue ignoring his hunger.

Quickly, Dib fished the device he and Zim had made not so long ago out of his pocket. With practised ease, he allowed the device to extend to its full size, making it look more like a cellphone than a sonic-screwdriver (Dib hadn’t seen  _ Doctor Who _ in years, but there was still a part of him that was excited about the device being reminiscent of one of the most iconic tools used in the show).

With it expanded to its full capacity, Dib powered the device up and held it over his plate of food, allowing the device to hover there while a small beam of bluish light shone down and swept over the food, taking in the information. 

Within seconds, the results of the scan flashed upon the screen, a full list of ingredients laid out before him. Each of the ingredients was typed out in green, signifying that everything in it was safe for Dib to consume. 

Ixane narrowed their eyes at the device, peering at the information displayed on its surface in a calculatingly curious manner.

This time, Zim answered the silent question, “It’s a device used to see whether or not something is safe for the Dib to consume.” There was an undertone to Zim’s words that made him sound almost proud of their idea and creation. It wasn’t exactly subtle- subtlety wasn’t really Zim’s forte- and the clear expression of pride over their work made Dib smile a little. 

“Why not simply alter your ‘glasses’ to do the same thing for the sake of compactness?” Ixane questioned. 

Zim opened his mouth to answer, but remained silent, antennae dropping as he realized that they had entirely overlooked that opportunity and Dib face-palmed at their own stupidity. Altering his glasses would have been  _ so _ much easier for them to do. 

Ixane let out a chuckle that sounded suspiciously like the echo of a cave (as most of the louder noises the strange creature made did), " _ Now _ who's the idiotic one."

Dib didn't even try to defend himself. 

~~~

Zim didn’t know what to do to prepare himself for the next step in his mission against the Armada. He had never acted as a spy before- at least not really. Considering how his little  _ “mission” _ on Earth had gone, he didn’t truly think he could call  _ that _ spy work. This was an  _ entirely _ different circumstance. Nothing he had done in his extensive training had lent him the knowledge on how to deal with this situation. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a course for irken invaders that was dedicated to treason- or, at least, not a course dedicated to  _ committing _ it.

It simply wasn’t in his programming to defy the word of his leaders. He had been born, bred, and raised to be the perfect little soldier who never even  _ considered _ going against his leaders’ word. He had been trained to do anything and everything the Tallests told him to do without question or hesitation. Doing  _ anything  _ against their will was far from normal for an irken- let alone treason.

Despite his uncertainty and lack of proficiency in this area, there was a little fire burning deep within him that pushed him to go through with this plan and it was that little spark that he clung to for dear life as he wracked his brain for a plan. 

“Just- act like everything is normal,” Dib suggested, “Pretend nothing even happened and that everything is fine. Business as usual.”

“Overthrowing what I was created to protect is far from  _ ‘business as usual’ _ , Dib-Beast” Zim muttered, steeling himself with a deep breath. Continuing as if nothing had happened was far easier said than done.

“What did you do last time?”

Zim groaned at the question. If the irken were any less cocky and self-assured, he would have the sense to be embarrassed even thinking of that situation now that he knew the truth and fully understood. “...I acted as though nothing had happened.”

“See? It would be totally in-character for you to do that this time, too. As long as you confidently act like you usually do, they won’t know anything happened,” suddenly, Dib’s eyebrows shot up and his face brightened with an idea, “Tell them you actually succeeded in conquering Earth!”

Zim gave his friend an unimpressed look, “They will never believe that.”

“No- no, we can make them believe it,” Dib began pacing back and forth quickly, his trenchcoat sweeping out behind him dramatically as he moved, “What about that one time the sky got all weird shortly after you first came to Earth? When there was that big capsule around the planet from those- what were they called- Planet Snatchers?”

“Planet  _ Jackers _ ,” Zim corrected, “And yes, of course, I remember that- I tried to get your help and you didn’t  _ believe _ me.” He was still a little bitter about that if he was being honest. 

“Hey, I had no good reason to believe you! We were still enemies back then.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Zim waved his hand dismissively, “Now, what about them?”

“Something like what they put around the planet could, theoretically, mess with signals transmitting from Earth to other locations, right?  _ And _ it would continue looking like a normal sky to the on-lookers?”

“Well,  _ yes _ , that’s the entire point; isolate without raising suspicion.”

“Then that’s our answer!” Abruptly, Dib ceased his pacing, whirling around to face Zim with a massive grin spread across his face, arms thrown out wide with triumph, “All we need to do is surround Earth with a similar device and then you’ll have  _ proof _ for the Armada that you conquered my planet. They’ll have no choice but to believe you- Hell, they might even willingly  _ let you back in _ if they think you’ve successfully done that.”

The irken’s antennae twitched.  _ That _ … was an admittedly good plan. His human was full of those recently, and Zim would be lying if he said that he wasn’t at least slightly impressed by it. His heart- well, “heart”- fluttered a bit at the pure excitement and pride etched across Dib’s features mixed with Zim’s own pride for his human’s idea. As intense as the Tallests had been about getting rid of Zim once and for all, doing something like this might just work. 

There was a small part of Zim that got excited over the idea that they might take him back, but he quickly stomped that idea into the ground without a second glance. That wasn’t  _ his _ thought- it was remains of his PAK’s influence- just some stupid instinct buries deep within him that dictated that that was how he should respond to something like that. It was his PAK, after all, that drove him to constantly work to please his leaders. 

Instead of giving into or addressing that fleeting thought, though, Zim turned to Dib and gave him a small smirk, “For a human, you have such good ideas, sometimes.”

The look that Dib gave him in response was just a  _ bit _ too happy- the look making the irken’s organs flip in some unknown emotion- so Zim quickly continued. 

“Impressive for a life-form with a lower intellect such as yourself,” the villainous grin spread across Zim’s face gave away the fact that he wasn’t truly trying to insult or upset his friend. 

“Oh shut up!” Dib shoved Zim, though his smile remained, “I’m amazing and you know it.”

Zim certainly did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am running on a caffeine high. This is a great feeling.


	19. And They Were Roommates!

Zim was hesitant to part ways with Dib. Despite knowing that it would be for only a short period of time and that they would still be in contact to some extent, he worried for his friend. Leaving Dib alone in a new location, in the middle of space, surrounded by people he didn’t particularly know seemed  _ wrong _ , even though he knew that Dib could handle himself. The human’s capabilities didn’t change the fact that Zim felt as though he was abandoning his friend. 

As much as this was about taking down the Armada, this was also about the two of them succeeding in this  _ together _ . Zim wanted to take Dib on exciting, interesting adventures through space and had assumed he would be able to do so while also taking down the Armada. Foolishly, he had hoped he would be able to- as the human saying went- kill two birds with one stone. But no, the two birds were actively flying away from one another and the stone was hardly heavy enough to take down the smaller bird, let alone attack the larger bird who created far bigger issues.

He didn’t want to separate from Dib. He didn’t want to leave his friend alone, lost in space while he left to go on some solo mission- the mission that was supposed to be something that was for both of them. 

The irken spent hours wracking his brain for a way to avoid the situation. He could theoretically  _ attempt _ to bring Dib along with him, but, considering how the Tallests had reacted when Zim had first broached the topic, he doubted that would work out well. He was already somewhat uneasy about returning as it was and he didn’t want to push it too far and put  _ both of them _ in danger. 

Beyond that, even if he  _ was  _ able to bring Dib with him, the human would likely be treated horribly by the other members of the Armada. He didn’t want to see Dib subjected to that and he knew that Dib wouldn’t stand for being treated poorly by anyone- let alone the ‘radical space dictators’ that Zim hailed from. Members of the Armada were just as stubborn as Dib was and would refuse to deal with a “servant” who acted as Zim was sure Dib would if he wound up there. All that would come from bringing Dib along would be a great deal of discomfort from all parties, eventually leading to some sort of physical altercation between Dib and whoever dared to attempt to treat him badly. 

Bringing Dib along would  _ not _ end well, and no matter how many scenarios churned through Zim’s twisting, whirlwind of a mind, things went horribly. 

Zim would have to do this, and he would have to do so alone. 

He didn’t know if he was ready for that. 

Thankfully, there was still time before Zim would actually have to set course to “rejoin” the Armada. There were things they would all need to do in preparation for Zim’s dangerous solo journey, and they still needed to come up with a more solid plan before he would even bother to begin making his way back to what he had once considered home. 

He still had time, even if the only reason he wanted that time was so he could avoid dealing with the situation at hand. 

Setting down Dib’s headset, Zim let out a sigh. He had been trying in vain to work on  _ something _ productive while his human slept so he could at least distract himself for a couple of hours. Zim was one of the few creatures in the Resisty that didn’t need to sleep at all, leaving him mostly bored and searching for something productive to do with his time whenever the majority of the members of the Resisty finally went to sleep. 

Zim, much like his human counterpart, didn’t particularly enjoy thinking about and processing his emotions and concerns too much and would prefer to throw himself into his work instead of dealing with it. Typically, it worked to some extent, but, right now, he found himself struggling to make himself focus on the task at hand rather than the war raging inside his head. 

He had been  _ attempting _ to connect Dib’s translation device to a device of his own so they could easily communicate with one another without much difficulty while he was gone. He had hoped to set up something that would allow Dib- as well as, hopefully, other members of the Resisty- to what was happening around Zim while he was with the Armada so they could take in any information that would potentially help them. 

This little project of his was proving to be more irritating and difficult than he had hoped- though he assumed the majority of that stemmed from the fact that he was irritated and distracted. He wasn’t certain that he could set something up like that on his side without it being found out immediately- or at least raising suspicion- and having the feedback sent directly to Dib’s headset seemed less of a good idea the longer things went on.

Quickly, Zim was becoming more frustrated at the situation he was in, his antennae twitching with irritation and distress. He was worried about how things would work out and, more importantly, uncertain. He didn’t like not being able to predict what would happen next and he had absolutely no clue what to anticipate happening as things went. 

“Why so frustrated, Space Boy?”

The sudden sound of Dib’s tired voice coming from the small bed across the (admittedly cramped) room drew Zim’s attention immediately. 

Dib must have just woken up. He hadn’t bothered to put his glasses back on, merely squinting across the room at Zim as he spoke to him. His voice was somewhat quiet still, as if he hadn’t yet adapted to speaking in a space that had previously been so quiet, and he still had his blankets wrapped around him.

“You haven’t slept for very long,” Zim noted after checking the time, “I know your sleep schedule has always been horrible but two hours is abnormal, even for you.”

Dib rolled his eyes as the slight jab, still not bothering to move from where he was comfortably curled up in his nest of blankets, “Maybe if I wasn’t rooming with a fuming irken, sleep would be easier.”

Zim attempted to communicate his exasperation by allowing his antennae to drop and narrowing his eyes into a slight glare, but he was only met with a confused squint, reminding him that Dib couldn’t properly see him from where he was.

“Go back to sleep,” Zim instructed, but even as he spoke he stood up to head over to where his friend was. He didn’t want to think about everything that had been running through his mind the past several hours.

Dib shifted in his bed to prop himself up on his elbow, fixing the irken with a small, cocky smirk, “I will when you tell me what’s up.”

“You’re exhausting.”

“Well, so are you, so I guess we’re even, Bug.”

Zim deadpanned. 

“So… what’s wrong?”

“I’m just struggling with a project for the mission.” It wasn’t a  _ complete _ lie, but it certainly wasn’t the entire truth.

“I can help, you know,” Dib let out a small sigh, “There are a ton of people in the base and I bet at least a  _ few _ of them are technologically proficient. There have to be at least a few decent engineers and scientists on here for this place to have been around for so long. You can get help.”

“It isn’t a real issue, just a mild inconvenience.”

Dib squinted slightly, clearly seeing that there was  _ something _ wrong that Zim wasn’t letting on, “If it isn’t a big deal, why are you so upset about it?”

“I’m not  _ upset _ \- I’m  _ slightly _ frustrated- there’s a difference.”

“Considering those words are synonymous? Not really,” Dib tilted his head, “If you’re getting that worked up about something that supposedly isn’t a problem, then you should take a break. Go to sleep or something.”

“Irkens don’t need to sleep,” he pointed out, despite knowing perfectly well that Dib already knew that. 

Dib’s counter was immediate, “But you’re  _ capable _ of it- and you’ve said it yourself in the past; it’s a good way to pass the time when you’re bored or stressed out.”

“I’m just going to go back to work for now,” Zim sighed stubbornly. As much as he didn’t want to return to what he was doing, he refused to allow himself to think too deeply about the situation at hand, and he knew that attempting to sleep would only spur on even more of his irritating thoughts. 

Dib sighed quietly but didn’t put up a fight beyond that, clearly too tired to be willing to try to convince his friend more than he already had, “If you change your mind, I’m here.” He moved over in the bed, leaving more space on the side closest to Zim, lending a silent invitation. 

Staying true to his word, Zim sat back down on the other side of the room and returned to his project, but his resolve only stayed standing for about fifteen or twenty minutes before it crumbled completely. He couldn’t focus enough to do anything productive and attempting to force himself to do anything productive unsuccessfully just aggravated him further. 

It wasn’t long before Zim finally gave up with a quiet sigh and headed back over to the single bed in the room. He hesitated for a moment at the edge of it, listening closely to see if Dib had fallen asleep in the short amount of time between their conversation and Zim returning. 

When he was sure that he wouldn’t disturb his friend, Zim carefully crawled into the bed as well, laying on the opposite side of it to give Dib a comfortable amount of space. 

He closed his eyes and attempted to focus on his breathing rather than what his mind so desperately wanted to keep his focus on.

Eventually, he felt himself slipping away from consciousness, slowly falling asleep in the comfort of the warm bed and the quiet room. 

He hated to admit it, but the sound of Dib’s steady breathing and the barely audible sound of the human’s heartbeat calmed Zim. He felt safe, strangely enough, and fell asleep within a few minutes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not defending my crappy title because that's basically what the end of this chapter is.


	20. Return of the Planet Jackers

Dib would be lying if he said that he wasn't at least a  _ little _ bit smug about the fact that Zim had taken his advice and decided to just take a break and get some rest, even if it was just a little. He would  _ also _ be lying if he said that waking up to see the Irken looking so calm and comfortable didn't make him smile and ease his mind a little about what they were going to attempt. 

He didn't let himself linger on the thought. Instead, he begrudgingly pushed himself from the warmth of the bed and got ready for the day, running his fingers through his hair to straighten out the sleep-messy scythe and wrapping himself up in his trench coat once he was finished. 

By the time Dib had almost entirely finished getting ready and was fully prepared for the day, Zim had woken up. The Irken looked mildly disoriented from the change between sleep and wake, the odd look spread across his face making Dib snicker slightly. 

Zim pinned his antennae back, narrowing his large, magenta eyes in clear irritation, "What's that idiotic look for?"

"I could say the same to you," Dib grinned back, toeing his combat boots on, "We should start working on the plan." 

“And what exactly do you want to do for our plan?” 

“For someone who doesn’t need to sleep, you sure aren’t a morning person.”

Dib could tell that Zim would have been rolling his eyes, was he wearing his humanoid contact lenses, “Hilarious, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t remember everything about what happened when we first got here, least of all every single person we saw, but I’m  _ pretty  _ sure there was at least one Planet Snatcher-”

“- _ Jacker _ ,” Zim corrected irritably. 

“- Planet  _ Jacker _ on this ship,” Dib grabbed the small fire knife he owned (something that would probably be more useful for torture rather than fighting to kill) and slipped it into his boot for safe-keeping. He was certain that he wouldn’t need it- not here, at least- but he didn’t want to leave it out in the open, regardless, “If I’m right about that, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get a capsule around my planet before you leave for the Armada.”

“Right,” a look of realization spread across the Irken’s face as he finally dragged himself from the bed. Evidently, Zim hadn’t bothered to change into anything else to sleep in before crawling into the bed the night prior, still wearing his typical Irken attire, “I suppose we’ll have to actually discuss this with Lard Nar, then.”

Dib’s face scrunched up slightly at the realization. He didn’t  _ dislike _ the little goat man, but having other people on his side- people who genuinely believed him and didn’t brush off his ideas and concerns- was strange after so many years of working largely on his own. He was still getting used to actually having so many people as allies, even if their allyship was an unlikely and largely superficial one. 

He had spent so many years having his plans mocked and immediately shot down that Dib eventually gave up on attempting to share them with  _ anyone _ \- and it was only recently that Zim had come into his life and offered him the friendship and camaraderie that he had lacked for so long. Dib was still used to having to keep his thoughts to himself, silently brooding over them for ages until the time was finally right.

Now, he had to actually run his ideas by other people before he actually went through with them, just jumping headlong into them whenever  _ he _ was ready to do so. 

Considering Zim had worked alone for so many years before he and Dib finally became close friends, Dib had the feeling that his alien companion was having the same issue. 

Still, having this allyship  _ would _ be good for them, and it was already proving to be helpful for their current mission, even if it  _ was _ weird to adapt to having to work with aliens from cultures spanning all across the galaxies. 

“Dib? Snap out of it, human,” Zim’s voice dragged Dib out of his reverie. The Irken stood before Dib, fully put together and looking ready to head out and begin taking the first steps for this part of the mission, “Are you ready to get this over with, human?”

Unlike how he typically would have phrased it in the past, Zim’s voice held no malice nor venom as he spoke the word “human”. It was just another nickname for Dib that had begun as an insult and slowly morphed into a general term for him.

“ _ I’m _ not the one who just woke up, Space Boy. I’ve been ready for hours.”

The Irken snickered in response, “You have  _ not _ .”

“Oh, yeah? Can you prove that, Bug?”

Zim just shoved him playfully in response, and they spent the short journey from their small sleeping quarters to the main sector of the ship teasing and tripping up one another. 

It was almost nice.

~~~

Evidently, Dib  _ had _ been right about there being a Planet Jacker present in the Resisty. They were large- even for a Planet Jacker, and had several dental tubes connected to their jaw bone, keeping them constantly hydrated with some sort of liquid that Zim had never bothered to learn about when the treaty between the Planet Jackers. Their name was Kran and they had fled their home planet after detaching from the ship they had piloted on their first mission to capture a planet for kindling their sun. 

They couldn’t handle the violence that came from their planet and ran towards the Resisty not because they actually cared about taking down the Irken Armada, but because they had nowhere else to go once they had abandoned their birth species. 

Zim almost saw it as cowardly, but he supposed he could understand why Kran would do that. Not everyone could simply destroy their society if they didn't agree with it. Not everyone had the power or internal strength to go through with something like that. 

That wasn't what they were there to discuss, though. 

"Would it be possible to take control of the kind of technology you used back then to capture planets?" Dib asked. 

Kran hesitated slightly, thinking about it, "Well,  _ yes, _ theoretically."

"Technically?" Zim tilted his head, "What do you mean by that?"

"The ship I used back then is still around the base- or the remains of it, I guess," Kran cringed slightly, "It's been years since it's seen any upkeep and it ended up getting damaged on my initial flight here. It's… in pretty bad shape, right now."

"Can it be fixed?" Dib didn't sound too worried about the little setback. It was a minor detail. 

" _ Anything  _ can be fixed," Zim chimed in before Kran could say anything. 

The Planet Jacker still answered Dib's question, though, "It  _ could _ be fixed, but it would take a lot of work. I haven't even so much as  _ looked at it _ in ages, so I'm not sure what the exact condition it's currently in is." 

"Don't  _ you _ know how to fix it?" Dib quirked an eyebrow quizzically. 

Zim had a feeling he knew the answer before Kran even said it. 

"I wasn't an engineer on my planet, so I really only know minor upkeep stuff for it. I don't really know what to do with it, at this point," Kran shook their head, "The damages are  _ way _ beyond my skill set, at this point."

Zim and Dib shared a look as Kran spoke, a silent understanding passing between them in the briefest moment of locking eyes. 

"Show us where the ship is," Zim instructed. 

Dib smiled slightly, "And leave the rest to us."

~~~

Despite the fact that neither of them had worked on a ship that was similar to the old Planet Jacker one that they were currently working on, there was a sense of familiarity to the task. 

Currently, Dib and Zim were working in a somewhat cramped workshop in the back of the base, doing everything they could to restore the ship to its former glory- and hopefully make some improvements that would make their job convincing the Armada that Zim had destroyed the Earth far easier. 

Just as it had been down on Dib's home planet when they were fixing up the cruiser before their intergalactic family road trip, GIR was there with them. Similarly, he wasn't doing much to help them- or anything, for that matter. 

Regardless, the absolute chaos that he brought to the table was at least entertaining, if nothing else, and the small robot occasionally lent them a bit of help, so it was worth it. 

Besides, Zim appreciated having the SIR unit around, even if he wasn't the most helpful creature to roam the universe. Considering the fact that Dib pet the robot anytime he drew close enough to the human or handed him anything, it was clear that Dib was content with the situation as well. 

Kran had already looked at the ship briefly and done everything they were capable of doing to improve it. It hadn't been much, but anything was better than nothing, even if what they got was minimal, and they had been more help than any of the three of them had anticipated. Kran seemingly surprised even themself by how much they had been able to do. 

Still, what they  _ had _ been capable of doing wasn’t nearly enough to get the ship off the ground, let alone use it to functionally enclose the entire planet in a safe manner for an extended period of time. 

That was what DIb and Zim were there for- and they certainly had their work cut out for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternatively titled Procrastination Level 100.


	21. Starships

Dib had never seen a spaceship that was quite like the one the Planet Jackers used (although that, admittedly, wasn’t saying much considering how few spaceships he had seen in his lifetime). It made working on the ship pretty complicated and more than a little difficult, but it also made it  _ incredibly  _ interesting. He had seen plenty of Zim’s work before- and it was  _ beyond _ impressive, but that didn’t change the fact that getting to see this piece of machinery made him grin like an absolute idiot as he worked on it. 

It wasn’t that the technology he had already seen wasn’t enough to bring him joy and interest, but seeing so many various  _ kinds _ of technology from differing alien cultures from all over the universe was… fantastic. 

As weird as it was being exposed to so many new and strange alien cultures and pieces of mechanics, it was absolutely amazing; it was everything that Dib had ever wanted. 

Once more, Dib was struck with the realization that this was, in fact, real and he was finally realizing (some of) the dreams he had had for his entire life. This wasn’t something that would be over quickly before he was sent back to Earth to suffer alone again, struggling in vain to make his father proud and himself happy all at once. He was going to get to live out his dreams and enjoy his life, and he wasn’t going to have to do it alone. 

Thanks to Zim, he also had the support of his father, at least to an extent. It was clear that Membrane still didn't entirely believe in aliens and the paranormal, but he  _ did _ support Dib's strange and unusual interests, even if he couldn't fully comprehend them. It wasn't everything he had wanted- ideally, he would be able to prove the existence of oddities to his father and show him the truth of the universe- but it was a start, and it was sure as hell a lot better than how things had been before. 

It was strange, the relationship Zim and Dib had. Dib had always assumed he would end up befriending an inhuman creature. Ever since he was little he had fantasized about growing close to a creature that was different from him, but that  _ understood _ him. He has always assumed (or, more accurately,  _ hoped _ ) he would be able to form an amazing bond with an odd creature. 

When he was young, he had dreamt of Mothman becoming his best friend and them going on adventures and such. He had always wanted something like this to happen. 

Now that it finally had, it was strange. It was such a complicated situation- perhaps not so much anymore, but their history was quite the oddity. They had started out hating one another, doing everything in their power to absolutely demolish the other one by any means. There were no boundaries, and there was nothing that was too far when it came to their battles. 

Now, they were unlikely allies and, honestly… best friends. Dib had never been as close to anyone as he was with Zim (something that he was somewhat ashamed to admit, no matter how much he told himself that it was  _ not _ his fault that he hadn't been able to make friends with people his own age and species). The Irken knew secrets about Dib that he had never shared with anyone else. Dib no longer feared sharing his insecurities and dreams with the Irken- he trusted Zim completely… he had never had that with anyone else, before. 

It was amazing. 

In the last few years, Dib had never anticipated becoming that close to anyone. Truthfully, he had lost all hope that he would manage to form that kind of bond with anyone, much to his dismay. It had hurt, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that it didn't. 

He was glad he finally had someone in his life that he could be that close to. He finally didn't feel alone. It was cheesy, but… he finally felt loved unconditionally. 

For the first time in years, Dib was happy with where he was in life. 

With an energy that matched (and nearly surpassed) his own, GIR trotted over to Dib, handing him a tool that was absolutely not what Dib had been looking for as he searched through the pile of objects. It wasn't what he needed for what he was working on, but, regardless, Dib accepted the tool and patted GIR on the head, eliciting an excited squeal from the attention-starved robot. 

"How long do you estimate fixing this up will take?" Dib asked, reconnection a few wires that had either come loose or snapped entirely during whatever accident had taken place back when the ship was first damaged. 

"Not too long," he answered vaguely, "Maybe a day or two if we want to make alterations to improve it."

Dib nodded, letting out a quiet hum of acknowledgement. That wasn't too long- especially for working in a spaceship unlike one he had ever seen before. While he had complete confidence that he would have been able to figure things out on his own, if he needed to, working with Zim on this was certainly making things go by faster and easier.

Dib had always been a fairly tactile learner, so working on this directly was tremendously helpful for figuring things out (of course, having a manual or something he could use to read up on and research the ship would have made things easier, but he didn't mind the lack of informational resources). Dib was a fast learner, and he was figuring things out rather easily as he went along, even if many of those things were not only strange but entirely foreign to him. 

Despite knowing very minimal amounts about Planet Jacker ships before he began working on this, he was doing fairly well, if the lack of explosions from the ship and Zim's clear approval were anything to go off of. 

Although Zim had seen Dib in action on numerous occasions before, he still occasionally wore looks of impressed awe on his face when Dib accomplished something he deemed to be particularly difficult while working on the ship. Similarly, although Dib had seen Zim give him that very same look before multiple times, it made him feel smugly proud of himself for being able to impress the Irken.

Maybe it was a bit more dangerous to go onto a project with a large and complex spaceship without any prior knowledge, but that hadn't stopped him in the past and it sure wasn't going to stop him now. 

Besides, if anything  _ did _ go awry, there were plenty of technicians on the ship who could theoretically help them, and the atmosphere of the situation almost made it worth any deadly explosions that could potentially occur due to his lacking knowledge on the machinery. 

Plus, this was too much fun to back down from just because danger was a possible outcome- danger was  _ always _ a possibility. Dib would never let that stop him. 

~~~

Zim could clearly tell how excited Dib was about their situation- he wasn't exactly  _ stealthy _ about it- and, to be entirely honest, Zim felt almost as excited as Dib seemed to feel. His excitement was for entirely different reasons, but that didn’t make it any less intense than Dib’s.

Zim had seen several spaceships in his lifetime. Hundreds of years had gone by with him in the Armada, and that exposed him to thousands of different kinds of spaceships. This was just one of many he had seen, and it wasn’t even unique in its properties. Perhaps Zim hadn’t seen one precisely like the version they were currently working on (this one was far older than most Planet Jacker ships he had interacted with in the past), but he had  _ seen _ similar ones, to some extent (even if he hadn’t taken close looks at the inner workings of  _ any _ Planet Jacker ships he had seen in the past), so it wasn’t entirely foreign to him. At this point, very few space ships that he saw were different enough from other ones to excite him to the extent that most space crafts seemed to excite the Dib. 

Despite the fact that Zim wasn’t excited about the existence of this space ship himself, he still had to begrudgingly admit that he found it almost endearing how enthusiastic Dib clearly was. He couldn’t entirely understand the human’s enthusiasm, but that was because he had been exposed to far more than Dib had been. It was only to be expected that seeing  _ anything _ from worlds beyond his own were thrilling to the human- especially if those worlds challenged to be more technologically advanced than his own. 

"Hey," Dib turned slightly so that he could better see Zim as he spoke, "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?" Zim asked, quirking an antenna. 

"What they said when we first arrived here- about you killing your leaders- was that true…?"

Zim practically felt his breathing cease for a moment. He had been expecting some question about alien technology, or details about Zim's plans for once he reached the Massive, or something of the like- not a question like  _ that _ .

The human frowned at Zim's moment of silence, immediately picking up on his shock towards the question. Zim internally cursed himself for being so transparent with his emotions. 

Dib opened his mouth to speak, but Zim quickly cut him off with an answer before he could get anything out.

"Yes. It is true."

Dib said nothing, silently nodding at his response. 

"It wasn't intentional, though," Zim clarified, frowning slightly. It wasn't that he didn't  _ want _ to tell Dib about what had happened, or that he wasn't comfortable with doing so, but, talking about the experience in general was…painful. Miyuki had been a wonderful and benevolent ruler while she had been around. Her death was devastating to the entire Armada and it had hurt Zim tremendously- especially due to him being the cause of it.

Now, Dib turned to face him fully, ceasing his work and setting down the tools he held in his hands so he could offer Zim his full attention. The look on his face gave Zim the impression that Dib had expected that answer, at least somewhat, "What happened, then?"

"I may have created a powerful entity capable of consuming near-endless amounts of energy, which inadvertently devoured both of them as well as a vast amount of the surface of my home planet."

Dib blinked owlishly and let out a breathless, "Wow." 

"Eloquent," Zim muttered, crossing his arms. 

"Sorry, I-" Dib inched his way closer to Zim, reaching a hand out to rest it upon Zim's arm in what was no doubt a human gesture of comfort. 

Zim didn't bother attempting to shake him off, strangely appreciating the closeness of his friend. 

"Listen, I'm  _ really _ sorry that that happened. I can't even imagine how traumatizing something like that would be," Dib's eyebrows were drawn together in sympathy, "I'm not exactly a  _ big _ supporter of the Armads for obvious reasons, but it's still awful that that happened to you."

Zim let out a soft sigh. He hated to admit that the close contact brought him a bit of comfort. 

"I'm also honestly pretty impressed that you managed to make something like that," Dib smiled a faint, sheepish smile. 

Zim let out a huff of breath, grinning despite himself, "I am amazing, aren't I?" 

Dib let out a small chuckle, playfully punching him in the shoulder despite the fact that he had been weakly attempting to comfort him mere moments before. "You are  _ so _ full of yourself," Dib laughed. 

"And why shouldn't I be?" Zim returned the friendly hit, a grin of his own on his face, "I am the  _ Mighty Zim _ \- I have every reason to be." 

"Cocky motherfucker."

"Foolish mortal."

They shared a smile, even as they slowly devolved from working together on the ship to play fighting and exchanging insults. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, titling this: "Please don't make me fucking do this."


	22. The First "Good" Irken

Despite the fact that Zim knew for a fact that Dib had never worked on a ship like this before and he himself had limited experience, they managed to do very well while working on the ex-Planet Jacker ship. It had only taken them a little over a day to get through making it fully functional as it once had been. It could have, theoretically, taken them a very short amount of time to make all of the updates to it that they had wanted, but, if Zim was being honest, the two of them had gone a bit overboard on it. Perhaps it was because they were putting off dealing with other things, or perhaps it was because they were trying to be thorough with their work, or maybe it was because the two of them ended up getting ridiculously excited in being able to, once more, make a ship all on their own (especially Dib, who didn’t get opportunities to personalize ships as frequently as Zim did). 

More likely, it was a combination of all of them. 

Regardless of  _ why _ they ended up working on it for longer than necessary, they did and the final product was barely recognizable as what it had been just days ago. It now looked sleek and even more complex and carefully constructed than current Planet Jacker ships were, though it was close enough to the currently used designs of their ships for it to not seem  _ too _ suspicious (they hoped, at least). The built-in communication devices that had once been used for communicating with other Planet Jacker ships had been repurposed to conduct transmissions between the ship and the Resisty base with a special code one had to input within to successfully contact the Resisty. There was also now an “escape pod” for them to use once they got the extension on the Planet Jacker ship all around Earth so that they could safely leave behind the planet while the people who had taken in there in the first place were able to leave (since this was a big mission, they wanted all hands on deck and all of them agreed that leaving one or two members out in the middle of space where they couldn’t do much would get them nowhere). 

The finished project was better than any of them had anticipated and Zim was genuinely proud of how it had turned out. Not only had they fixed the ship, but they had altered it to  _ perfectly _ fit their current needs and it had turned out wonderfully. 

He was impressed, and it seemed as though the other members of the Resisty felt much the same, if their reactions to it were anything to go off of.

Several of them crowded around the newly crafted spaceship, though not so many of them that the tiny garage that had acted as their workspace during the project felt cramped, all staring at their handiwork. Each of them was impressed for different reasons- those who were not proficient engineers impressed at the fact that someone had been able to fix the ship (and had bothered to do so), while the actual engineers were impressed that someone with absolutely no training had managed to work on the creation. 

It was clear that Dib appreciated how everyone was reacting to what they had done.

"And you've really never worked on one of these before?" One repeated, carefully inspecting the ship with a look of curious interest on their face. 

Dib hummed in confirmation, a proud grin spreading across his face at the clear support the others were showing. It was obvious that he was pleased with how everyone was reacting to the ship they had worked on, "This is the second ship I've worked on."

Zim watched as Dib fell into a comfortable conversation with a few others in the group, happily chatting about the changes they had made and answering questions about what they had done to the ship and how it would function now that they had given it so many updates. He looked excited and at ease the way that Dib had when the two of them were together, working on a project of theirs'. This was the first time that the others were  _ actually _ interacting with him willingly- and he supposed that it was a more mutual thing than he would admit. Sure, the others had avoided Dib like the plague when they first arrived, but they had done the same thing to them. It had never bothered Zim too much and it seemed as though Dib hadn't been too upset about his lack of relationship with the others, either. After all, he had never been one to grow too close to those at the school he had attended- and he had known those people for far longer than he had known these aliens. 

Maybe that was part of it, though. 

Dib was sick of people not taking him seriously- tired of people overlooking and ignoring his talents and underestimating him at every turn, that Zim knew for a fact. People had disregarded him and his passions for years and, while Dib had certainly grown accustomed to it and had worked out ways around it, to some extent, that didn’t change the fact that it hurt. He didn’t like the way people viewed and treated him and, while he had grown accustomed to it from so many years of that treatment, that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt him. 

Zim could relate.

He couldn’t have just a year or two ago, when he was still functioning under the (apparently ridiculously foolish) idea that his leaders genuinely valued him as a soldier and as a creature. He had always believed that everyone  _ knew _ how amazing he was and saw the value in him that he had always seen in himself. He assumed that underlings looked up to him and that those who were in his ranks or higher up still regarded him with a sense of understanding and appreciation for what he did. It made sense to him; he had always seen himself as an amazing Invader, so it would be strange if those he had worked so closely with for years looked down upon him and the things he did. 

Evidently, though, they didn’t have as high of an opinion of Zim as he had of himself. It hurt, knowing that everything that happened between him and the other Invaders had been a ruse. Had he ever done  _ anything _ right as an Invader? Had he made even  _ one _ person there proud in his time with them? He had no clue, and the uncertainty of it after years of so much confidence was nearly crippling to him. 

In many ways, Dib and Zim were incredibly similar, despite the numerous obvious differences between them and the worlds they had grown up to inhabit. This was one of the many similarities between them that seemed obvious to them once they really looked at it, but didn’t seem quite so natural from afar. 

Perhaps Dib had grown used to being viewed by his companions in a certain way, and perhaps Zim had only recently begun feeling this way, but that didn’t change that they had both tasted the painful, terrible, bitter taste of rejection and hatred from their own kind. 

Now that they were finally getting some respect and interest from others-  _ true  _ respect and interest rather than something just perceived- something felt different. 

Despite the fact that Zim had gone his entire life assuming that everyone held him in as high regards as he held himself, that wasn’t true- and maybe it had never been. He knew the reality of everything now, far too late for the situation to not feel as painful as ripping off one’s own antennae would, but that didn’t change the fact that, for years, Zim had  _ felt _ as though he was constantly receiving positive attention and reinforcement. 

Zim knew Dib well enough to know that that wasn’t the case for the human. 

Dib was finally getting the recognition that he deserved and that people were genuinely taking him seriously and considering the ideas he came up with for the first time in, perhaps, his  _ lifetime _ . 

The stupid grin on his face as he discussed plans and blueprints with the others made perfect sense. He understood the Dib, even if they were from different species, and, oddly enough, Zim couldn’t help but feel happy about the situation too. Not just because he was receiving praise for something he had worked on- no, he knew that he deserved that, and it wasn’t entirely foreign to him- but because Dib was finally getting what he deserved and was clearly thrilled about the situation.

Zim was happy for his human, and the smile on his face matched the one his partner in crime wore perfectly. 

He wasn’t able to ponder the situation for too much longer before a voice broke through his thoughts. 

“You’ll be leaving soon, then, I take it.” It wasn’t quite a question- the voice that spoke was far too neutral to convey a true question. They knew the answer before they had even asked and Zim knew it. 

It was Ixane speaking- one of the many members of the Resisty that they had met without truly  _ meeting _ . Neither Dib nor Zim knew too much about the alien, as they had never bothered to put too much effort into getting to know them (or anyone else there, for that matter). They  _ did _ , however, know that Ixane typically did not talk very much, and that they could be a sarcastic prick, sometimes. 

“I guess I will,” Zim answered simply.

The slight smile on Ixane’s face was just barely visible from under the hood of their cloak, “You’re not looking forward to it?”

Zim crossed his arms, staying silent at the question. 

Ixane turned away from Zim, following the Irken’s gaze to watch Dib just as Zim had been doing for the past few minutes, “You’re attached to the human creature.”

Again, Zim remained silent, but Ixane didn’t seem to mind.

“That’s odd for an Irken.”

_ That _ made Zim react, though. 

He finally whirled around to face the other creature, pinning his antennae down and back with heavy hostility in the very action and narrowing his eyes into a viscous glare that would melt Ixane on the spot if looks could kill, “Are you accusing me of being a  _ defective _ .”

“No,” they smiled slightly, not in the least bit frightened nor intimidated by Zim’s tactics, “I’m accusing you of being one of the first  _ good _ Irkens.”

Before Zim could ask them to clarify, Ixane turned away from him and wandered over to where Dib and the others were, listening to the conversation they were having about the differences between different types of engines for ships or something of the sort, leaving Zim with his thoughts once more. 

What did they  _ mean  _ “good Irken”? Everything he had done throughout his time as an Invader proved that to be incorrect. Maybe he had always seen himself as a success, but the others did not- and it was clear that he  _ had _ done things to hurt the Armada and put them in danger, even if he had never truly seen it that way. He was far from a good Irken Invader, and maybe he had never been.

Although…

Zim stared hard at Dib, feeling his innards flip happily at the way Dib grinned when his eyes met Zim’s and waved him over to join the conversation, clearly elated. He had only felt that way in the past when he himself was succeeding- he rarely felt happy for anyone else, if ever.

Maybe  _ that’s _ what Ixane had meant. 

Zim wasn’t a good Irken Invader by the standards of the Tallests, but maybe that didn’t mean that he wasn’t a  _ good _ Irken. In some strange way, perhaps he  _ was _ . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever just... write yourself into a corner? Oops.


	23. How Soon is Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib and Zim say their goodbyes before finally doing their own thing for their mission.

Just as Zim and Ixane had discussed the day prior, it wasn't long before Dib and Zim were given orders (though, referring to them as that was a generous action, considering Dib and Zim had a bit more power in the sense that they were the biggest pieces of their newest plans against the Armada (and Lard Nar wasn't a particularly intimidating nor demanding person in the first place)) to head out and "hide" Earth from the Armada. The job hadn't been assigned to them specifically, but it was requested that they be the ones to carry it out, as they knew the most about the ship.

The both of them had been willing to hold off on their little expedition after the unveiling of the new and improved ship, but the others were…  _ less content _ with that. 

Zim supposed that was fair- they  _ had _ been working towards this for far longer than either Zim or Dib had and were interested in taking down the Armada for far different reasons than either of them was. After pouring so much time and effort into their cause, it would make sense for them to be a little impatient about taking the next step towards their success (it was something that Zim could relate to heavily). Especially since Zim would be a main player in what was happening, he would have to get involved soon for them to be able to truly start working on their plan. 

Unfortunately, that meant not much time left for the two friends to spend together before they would have to separate.

Considering the fact that Dib had been forging some relationships with the other members of the Resisty after the two of them had impressed the others with their work, Zim felt less apprehensive about leaving Dib there. He was slowly gaining friendships with other people (something that probably would have made him jealous if he didn’t find it so comforting that Dib  _ had _ people), which meant that, at the very least, he probably wouldn’t get murdered while Zim was gone and, hopefully, he would have  _ someone _ there for him so he wasn’t entirely alone. 

That didn’t change the fact that Zim wasn’t sure whether or not he was prepared for the journey ahead of him. At this point, though, whether or not  _ he _ was prepared wasn’t really important. He no longer had much of a say in the matter. If he wanted to work towards taking down the Armada or remain allied with the Resisty, he had to do this. This was imperative to their plan, even if it was a complex and stressful thing for him to go through with.

By the time they were in the “Planet Jacker” ship and on their way to Earth, they were too far in to back out, and, truthfully, Zim didn’t want to. He  _ wanted _ to do this and he  _ wanted _ to make the Armada (especially the Tallests) pay for everything they had done to him. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel the strange sensation of nerves overtaking him, though. 

Fortunately, (or,  _ unfortunately _ , considering the fact that neither of them was particularly good at communicating much of anything), Dib was right there with him- both literally and metaphorically, and he spoke up before Zim needed to. 

“When we decided to come out here and work with them to take down the Armada, I didn’t really expect to get separated from you so soon.”

“I didn’t either,” Zim admitted. 

While Zim was usually the one piloting their ships when they went anywhere (which, admittedly, hadn’t happened many times in the past), Dib was the one in control of steering the ship, this time. He was doing fairly well and had looked incredibly excited about the very prospect of what he was doing when they first began their brief trip back to Earth. Now, his excitement had simmered down from the massive grin he had worn when they first started this trip, melding into something more typical for him. He looked less thrilled to just be there and more thoughtful, wearing the same expression he had sometimes worn while trying his hardest to deal with his father back before they had worked through their father-son issues- not the look of hatred and despair, but a more bittersweet, faintly pained look. The look someone would wear while trying to get through something difficult and emotionally taxing. 

“It kind of sucks that we have to go our own ways for a while during this. I mean, I’ve always looked forward to going on exciting adventures and I’ve never had a problem going them alone, but…” he shrugged, “This is kinda different, y’know? It’s like two people collaborating on a project breaking apart to do their own thing with the same original concept.”

_ That _ comparison wasn’t something Zim would have made, but it made sense, to an extent. After all their time being close to one another and working together, Zim was able to determine exactly what his human meant by that, “Yes, it is a rather... strange turn of events.”

Dib snorted, “I would say ditching my home planet and changing the course of my life for the time being to help my alien friend overthrow the tyrannical space dictatorship he hailed from is a little more than  _ ‘rather strange’ _ .”

Playfully, Zim elbowed Dib in the side, making his human counterpart let out a laugh and shove him back. 

“Hey! No hitting the driver,” Dib laughed even as he tried to make his point, “I could crash or something.” 

“Crash into  _ what _ , exactly?” Zim’s own laughter echoed Dib’s.

“Oh,  _ I’ll _ find a way. You know how destructive I can be, sometimes.”

“I think “stupid” would be more accurate than “destructive”, but we can go with that, if it makes you feel better,” Zim teased. 

Dib shoved him once more, staying silent, though he wore a small grin. 

“What did you  _ just _ say about not hitting?”

“ _ You’re _ not the one flying this ship; I’m  _ allowed _ to hit you.”

“You have  _ wretched _ etiquette, Dib.”

All Dib did in response was hum, allowing them to lapse back into comfortable silence once more. Although the silence that took over the ship once more wasn’t awkward nor disconcerting in the slightest, it  _ did _ allow for their minds to wander far away, bringing Zim’s thoughts back to their original topic of conversation. 

Zim debated whether or not he would say anything- something he infrequently did, since he typically preferred to just speak without considering his words deeply beforehand (or, at least, he  _ had _ once preferred that). Before he could commit to speaking his mind and putting a voice to the words filling his mind, they were interrupted by the sight of a small planet coming into view. 

It was blue, speckled with several landmasses coloured green in varying shapes and sizes, all taking different forms over the primarily blue surface. White and grey swirled over the planet like a drop of dye hitting entering a glass of water. There was the slightest hint of a glow being emitted from the surface of the planet, a slight ring of turquoise that was barely visible, but clear enough for them to distinguish if they focused on the layer of the atmosphere that made up the strange hue of light around it. 

They had finally reached their current destination: Earth. 

Dib leaned forward slightly as he focused on deliberately manoeuvring the ship into the proper position for what they were going to do next. It wasn’t a very difficult task and certainly didn’t require the level of attention Dib was giving, but the amount of care and effort he was putting into the small act was something Zim could appreciate.

“Ready?” Dib asked, casting a glance over to Zim. 

“Of course,” he gestured to the lever that would deploy the claw-like tool stowed within the ship to wrap around the planet, “Care to do the honours?”

Dib grasped the handle of the lever, a small smile playing across his face before he hesitated briefly. After a moment, he jerked his head towards the lever ever so slightly, gesturing towards it as well, “We built this together, so it only makes sense for us to deploy it together. C’mon.”

“You humans are so sentimental,” Zim teased, but he was already moving to grab the lever as well, holding onto the section right next to where Dib’s hand was, “On the count of three?”

Dib nodded, “Three…”

“Two.”

“One.”

On the final number, they both tugged the lever towards them, successfully sending the long mechanical arm to stretch towards the Earth. Once it was close enough to grab it, but far enough to not interfere with the atmosphere (they had figured out the exact measurements required for this to go along smoothly long ago), the walls that would enclose the planet were also deployed, slowly wrapping their way around Earth to safely close it in with the strong metal. 

For a moment, they both just sat there, watching as the ship closed around the planet, and then staring thoughtfully at the hidden away planet for a minute more than necessary before moving on to their next tasks.

~~~

On the way home, Zim finally spoke what had been on his mind, “Dib, when I’m gone…” He trailed off, not entirely certain what to say- or, more accurately-  _ how _ to say what he wanted to without it coming off as far too emotional and sentimental for his taste. 

Thankfully, he didn’t need to.

“I know…” Dib sighed softly, his eyes flickering over to his friend, “I’ll miss you, too, Zim.”

~~~

Although there were several things that the two of them- and, well,  _ everyone _ involved- had taken into consideration while working out the details of this mission of theirs, there were a few things that they hadn’t realized. They were minor details, as always, things that seemed unimportant and easily slipped one’s mind, but they were still things they would technically have to work out nonetheless. 

For the most part, they had worked out all of the small kinks and fine details of their plans before Dib and Zim had even left to fix things with Earth beforehand, but there was  _ one _ incredibly minute thing that they hadn’t even thought about beforehand. 

The alterations they had made the Zim’s own cruiser before they had left for space. 

Of course, the changes were necessary ones and both of them knew that perfectly well. They would not have been able to make the trip to, well,  _ anywhere _ beyond Dib’s own planet safely without making the proper changes to the cruiser beforehand. Things wouldn’t have worked out and Dib would not have been safe had they not worked on it before leaving, but, now, it was incredibly different from something that a real Irken Invader would use. 

Realistically speaking, if Zim had  _ actually _ taken over and destroyed the planet, leaving no living remains of it to be heard of, he wouldn’t have made the changes to his ship in the first place- he wouldn’t have had any reason to. Unless he had done exactly what his leaders had told him  _ not _ to do, the changes wouldn’t have been made in the first place. 

Above all, if he were truly still loyal to them, the symbol on the ship wouldn’t have been altered by them, marking it as something clearly separate from the Irken Armada without the typical insignia emblazoned across it.

If they wanted this to go perfectly and avoid striking up issues and looking suspicious the moment Zim arrived, they would have to reverse the changes that had initially been made to the cruiser. 

In all honesty, Dib was disappointed. They had put a great deal of time and effort into the ship, and, while he hadn’t done nearly as much to it as Zim had considering all of the “normal human things” he’d had to take care of during the time of its construction, the ship was still something he had worked hard on. It was something for him to be proud of, even if it was a stupid and sentimental thing to think. 

He hated the fact that they would have to tear it down and return it to its original form, after everything they had done to enhance it, and it seemed that Zim mirrored Dib’s own feelings. 

Zim’s eyes were trained on the stupid insignia they had designed to replace the normal Irken one (or, at least, it  _ looked _ like he was focusing on it, though it was difficult for Dib to truly tell when he didn’t have pupils to signify that), the look across his face irritated and almost sombre. 

They shared one final glance before they reluctantly moved to begin their work tearing the ship apart. 

Someone stopped them before they could do any real damage to the ship, though. 

“The ship has been altered so much that they’ll never believe you’re still one of them,” a voice pointed out. 

When Dib looked up, he was met with the large green eyes of Lard Nar, hidden behind a thick pair of goggles, the tiny pin-pricks of pupils fixated on what they were doing. 

“That’s kind of why we’re doing this,” Dib pointed out, leaning against the ship. 

“We’re working on removing the new amenities right now,” Zim explained, “We’re not stupid enough to send  _ this _ back to them.”

Lard Nar tensed up immediately at the word ‘stupid’, already massive eyes seeming to widen further behind his goggles, “I wasn’t trying to insinuate-” 

Zim waved one clawed hand, cutting him off before he could finish attempting to defend himself. It was funny, almost, how easily affected the leader of their group was by someone who hailed from the very thing they set out to destroy. “Yes, yes, now leave us alone so we can work.”

Lard Nar, however, did not make a move to leave, “There  _ is _ an alternative.”

Once more, Dib and Zim shared an almost conspiratorial look- a habit that they were quickly forming the more time they spent together- before looking back down to Lard Nar. 

“We have a most undamaged ship nearly identical to yours- before it was altered, of course- stored away.”

Dib narrowed his eyes at that, “ _ Why _ would you have something like that?”

“It was from a…  _ conflict _ not too long ago,” Lard Nar shook his head as if attempting to push the memory from his mind with the simple action, “You can take that one, instead. It will be far easier than dismantling and redoing your old one, and it will leave yours fully functional for the two of you.”

A small, almost relieved smile spread across Dib’s face, “Perfect. Show it to us.”

~~~

Just as Lard Nar had said, the ship they’d had hidden away in their base (how many weird, random things like this could they possibly need?), was nearly identical to the one Zim owned before the two of them had changed it, and it was in near perfect shape. It was fully functional (for an Irken, at least), and would be perfect for him to use. 

Plus, it meant their  _ own _ ship could remain as it currently was without having to suffer any significant changes for the benefit of their mission, and Dib was glad that he would still have their own ship at his disposal while Zim was gone, just in case. 

With the new ship safely docked and all of Zim’s belongings that weren’t being left with either the Resisty or with Dib himself safely packed into the ship, he was ready to go.

It was exciting, the prospect of them even making the attempt to pull something like this off. It was like something Dib would dream about doing as a kid, but had never actually believed he would be able to do. Them doing something on this large of a scale was exciting and impressive to Dib, even if it was, in many ways, a dangerous, difficult, and stressful thing for them to even attempt. 

Actually saying goodbye to his companions, though, was far less exciting. 

Saying goodbye to GIR wasn’t too difficult (at least on an emotional level, he wasn’t too worried about him leaving for a while), though the robot had clung to him in a hug so intensely tight that it could have broken Dib’s very bones. 

Leaving Zim was slightly more complicated, though. 

They didn’t bother telling one another that they would miss the other- they had already done that before, and, more importantly, it was something that both of them already knew so well that saying it out loud seemed absolutely redundant. 

Instead, they told one another things that still needed to be said.

Making his tone as serious as he possibly could, Dib spoke his parting words, “You better not fucking die while you’re out there, Space Boy, or I’ll make you absolutely miserable- I  _ will _ make you regret it.”

Zim chuckled and gave Dib a somewhat lop-sided grin in return, “Same to you, Dib-Beast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this chapter was titled after the song. Yes, this chapter was all over the place because I'm trying to move things along. No, I will not be accepting criticism (that's a lie, I absolutely will).


	24. And Now, We Wait

Despite the concern that Zim shared with  _ every _ member of the Resisty about GIR coming along with him, Zim refused to leave him behind. He knew that the possibility of GIR spilling information that needed to be kept secret was somewhat likely considering the robot’s lack of general knowledge on  _ how to keep his damn mouth shut _ and his inability to remember orders for more than ten seconds. Despite the fact that GIR had been manufactured by the Armada to strive for perfection just as all of the others had been (unless  _ that _ had been a lie, too (which seems more and more likely every passing day, the more Zim thought about it…)) the SIR unit was far from flawless. There were a lot of issues with his information processing software as well as his memory. It seemed that very few things Zim told GIR did much more than float around him without any of it really being taken in. It seemed all of Zim's words fell on deaf ears.

Regardless Zim was (almost pathetically) attached to the little robot and he absolutely  _ refused _ to leave behind  _ both _ of his beloved travel partners during this time. So, to avoid relinquishing him to the Resisty while on this journey, Zim convinced the others (through plenty of screaming) that it would be incredibly odd for him to show up without the SIR unit and could perhaps tip them off that something was up. It was only partially a lie, all things considered, and he firmly stood by his previous statements about GIR being there solely for the purposes of blending in as much as possible, refusing to verbally admit to anyone that his decision was at least partially emotional.

To say Zim was adamant about bringing GIR along was putting it lightly. Truthfully, he had put up a fight so intense that no one wanted to even  _ try _ to disagree with him on the matter. Thus, he was able to bring his little friend along for the ride. 

Right about now, though, he was beginning to regret doing so. 

GIR was, _once again_ , singing the dreaded _“Doom Song”_ that he was so fond of and the repetition of the screechy, metallic voice that emanated from him was quickly reminding Zim of why he had almost broken down the first time he went on a long space-shuttle ride with no one to accompany him aside from GIR. At least when he had had Dib along with them when they travelled into the depths of space, it was far less difficult to keep the robot entertained and distracted enough for Zim to retain his sanity the entire time. Being alone with Gir was a different story completely.

Still, he supposed that it beat being entirely alone in this situation- and he truly thought he would need someone at his side if he was going to return to the place that had once been a home to him. Now that he knew that he was far less beloved than he had imagined, he needed someone there with him who  _ did _ unconditionally love him and, unfortunately (or, fortunately, if Zim was feeling less irritated and nihilistic, at the moment), GIR was the perfect candidate for that.

Despite how childishly unpredictable and irritating GIR was most of the time, he  _ was _ a very sweet creature- even taking into consideration the fact that he wasn’t always very helpful due to his numerous malfunctions. He was affectionate (even if the amount of affection he showed those around him was a bit much for Zim) and it was clear to anyone who met him that GIR genuinely seemed to love those he was close to, even if he  _ was  _ “just a robot”. He could be annoying much of the time, but Zim enjoyed his presence nonetheless. 

In an attempt to get GIR to cease his atrocious singing, Zim brought a clawed hand down to rest it atop the robot’s head, petting him the way one might pet a dog or cat. 

Luckily, that seemed to do the trick. GIR immediately silenced his singing in favour of squealing in absolute delight and grabbing onto Zim’s arm to cling to him in a vice-like hug. 

Zim chuckled fondly, resting his chin on the arm that was not currently  _ indisposed _ as he looked down at the tiny creature. 

The relative silence couldn’t last for very long, though, and it was only a matter of seconds before GIR broke that silence. 

“You’ll see him again soon,” GIR said, a note of determination in his voice as though he was telling Zim some indisputable fact of dire importance rather than gibberish that made no sense. 

“Eh?”

“ _ Him _ !” Gir insisted, voice (unsurprisingly) raising in volume, “Mary! We’re going to be back and see him again  _ soooon _ !”

Zim let out a groan at that, shaking GIR off of his arm, “Not this again.”

GIR let out a distraught noise of offence, pouting up at Zim like he had just committed a horrible act against his kind. 

“I am  _ not _ ‘worried’ about the Dib-Thing,” Zim shook his head, being careful to use the ridiculous nickname he had given the human rather than simply using his actual name as if that were proof enough that his feelings about the situation were not tragically emotional.

“You look sad without him. You didn’t want to leave.”

“Of  _ course _ I didn’t want to leave- returning to the Massive is to relinquish my dignity. It has absolutely nothing to do with that human. Why would it? That would be ridiculous.”

GIR shook his head before standing back up, only to flop forwards and against Zim in a strange, clinging hug, “Friend will be fine. His head is big because of his big brain for holding smart stuff. He’s smart like you.”

Zim chuckled. In the past, he would have been revolted to have his own intellect be compared to that of a “lesser” life-form such as Dib. Now, though, the comparison only helped make him feel  _ slightly _ less concerned for his friend. GIR was right after all- Dib  _ was _ clever and he could take care of himself. He was in no immediate danger. 

“Everything will be okay,” GIR reassured him, crawling up Zim’s arm like a piece of equipment on a playground and lying atop Zim’s head in a gesture Zim was sure was intended to be taken as comforting rather than irksome.

Zim sighed, antennae twitching as GIR drew too close to the sensitive stalks, making them itch with mild discomfort. 

The alien did his best to ignore his robotic companion for the time being. He  _ hated _ looking into himself and acknowledging the revolting emotions he felt deep within, no matter how much Dib- as well as other humans- told him that it was necessary. 

Much like his most recent endeavours of the past Earthen year- especially those involving his mission and new companion and best friend, Dib- it seemed that simply ignoring his thoughts and feelings for the situation would be a bit more difficult than it once was back when he lived in the Armada. 

~~~

Not too long ago, Dib had hated Zim. He had spent his time doing everything in his power to thwart his diabolical attempts to overthrow his planet as well as doing smaller things in school to inconvenience the alien. The had been sworn enemies the moment they laid eyes upon one another, and, back then, it had seemed likely that that would never change. 

As time would have it, however, that  _ did _ change and, now, Dib found himself  _ concerned _ for the alien’s well-being on the solo side-mission he had been sent on for the Resisty. 

Currently, Dib was sitting in the main room of the Resisty’s space-ship base, crowded into the large room with several other members of the Resisty. Although they had started the day out with nearly all of the members crowded into the room alongside Dib, eagerly awaiting any and all news that Zim might send their way, the room had significantly thinned out over time, the other members slowly growing bored with the lack of new information and wandering off to do other things. It seemed that the majority of them didn’t have much patience, and it was clear that many of them were already becoming anxiously restless with their current situation. 

Eventually, Dib was left in the room with only a few other members of the Resisty- including Lard Nar, Ixane, Kran, and (unfortunately), Spleenk. 

It wasn’t that Dib  _ disliked _ Spleenk so much as the creature drove him to his wit’s end, his lack of intellect and good sense to think about his horrible ideas for more than ten seconds before sharing it with the rest of the world making Dib want to rip his own hair out with frustration.

Fortunately, the final person in the group had fallen asleep (not from tiredness or exhaustion, but from boredom, much like Zim had done occasionally back when they had been on Earth), leaving no one beyond the three others left as they awaited Zim’s message- whatever that would be. 

On a few occasions, Zim had made contact with them after he left, giving them small updates on how he was doing, or even just to chat with Dib, reassuring him or the Irken’s safety in an unsurprisingly roundabout manner. For the most part, however, Zim had stayed silent. 

It wasn’t surprising that the Irken had decided to avoid contacting them too frequently. Considering the fact that he hadn’t run into anything of much interest as of yet, there was no  _ logical _ reason for him to contact them beyond his initial take-off message informing them all that he was fine and that the ship was functioning correctly. Dib was sure that, had he been the only one there, Zim would have spoken to him idly to pass the time or something similar, but they had ended up deciding to keep only more public lines of communication open between Zim and the rest of the Resisty, leaving the two of them without any privacy to speak about whatever senseless topics they decided to discuss to kill time as Zim made his way to the Massive. The two of them may have eventually formed somewhat decent relationships with the other members of the Resisty, but that didn’t mean that Zim had warmed up to them enough to want to talk to all of them to pass the time. 

All things considered, it made perfect sense for Zim to not contact them frequently. The logic behind it didn’t leave Dib feeling any less bored and apprehensive about their situation. There was little that he could do- little that would be  _ helpful _ and  _ productive _ , at least- while they were in this stage of their mission, leaving him to sit and play the waiting game just like everyone else. 

He hated it. 

Of course, he knew that it was necessary. He couldn’t have gone with Zim to the Massive- not with how risky doing so would have been- nor could he really do anything in preparation for the next part of their mission without having any more information at his disposal. Regardless, it left him feeling restless, itching to get up and  _ do something _ that would actually help them along with this process. 

Perhaps it was because he had spent so much of his time on Earth constantly pushing himself to stay productive with some investigation or another, or perhaps he was excited to get further their current mission, or perhaps it was just nerves. Either way, Dib hated it.

He wasn’t going to leave the room and find something else to do, though. He  _ had  _ to wait for Zim’s signal and ensure that their plan was going smoothly ( _ and _ that Zim was safe). 

For now, he would just have to wait.

Waiting, however, would take a long time with the distance between them and Zim’s current destination, and, being human, Dib could only stay awake and alert for so long. 

After several hours of attempting to keep his mind as busy as possible without actually leaving the room to do something else as he waited, Dib fell asleep, the strangely calming silence of the void of space lulling him into a peaceful state of rest. 

~~~

Dib wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep- hell, he hadn’t even been aware that he had fallen asleep in the first place. What he  _ did _ know was that, when he woke up, it was with a slightly ragged blanket that hadn’t been there before draped over his frame and a voice buzzing in his ear, calling his name. 

“-ib? Dib!” There was a heavy sigh of exasperation, “Is  _ anyone _ there?”

Blearily, Dib sat up, shaking his head slightly as he slowly processed what he was hearing through the fog of sleep that still permeated his mind. Once what he was hearing fully sank in, though, Dib immediately jumped into action, leaping forward and rushing to unmute the call on their side. 

“I’m here! It’s Dib.”

“Of course it is- who else would it be?” Zim sounded unimpressed. 

Dib huffed, rolling his eyes at the alien’s response, “I don’t know, maybe one of the numerous others who live here and is working alongside us on this mission to topple the Irken Armada?”

Before Zim could formulate his own come back, another voice crackles over the speakers. 

“HI, MARY!” The Shrill screech of GIR’s words made the speakers squeak and crackle, feedback coming through painfully and making Dib cringe in response. 

“Hello, GIR.”

There was another sigh on the other end, “Yes, yes,  _ hello _ .”

Dib rolled his eyes. Despite the air of nonchalance Zim had about his words, Dib knew him well enough to assume that his alien friend was almost definitely not truly as calm as he seemed. He knew something had happened. 

“So, what’s up? Why did you call?”

“I am about to arrive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally forcibly moved past the writer's block and found time to write! It's good to be back.


	25. Your Worst Enemy

To say that Zim was terrified was an understatement. He didn’t think that there was a word in any human tongue that could properly describe precisely what it was that the Irken felt as his ship finally drew close enough to the Massive to be clearly visible to them. At the very least, there certainly wasn’t a word that felt quite powerful and intense enough to describe everything that he was feeling. Naturally, the overwhelming desire to burn the ship down then and there lingered in the back of his mind, but what took the forefront of his thoughts was whether or not their plan would work. 

Zim was a genius- he wasn’t going to pretend that he didn’t think so highly of himself- but the Tallests were no fools either (and to even suggest as much seemed like treason, even from the position Zim was in). The possibility of the Tallests seeing through his lies was very prevalent. 

As far as egos went, Zim’s was, much like the ship he had grown up on, near-endlessly massive. Irkens almost always held themselves in high regards, but Zim was...  _ special  _ in more than one sense of the word when it came to how similar he was to other Irkens. Despite the fact that he was looked down upon greatly by the majority of his species, Zim’s ego surpassed many of the others in his species. When he was still with the Armada, he fully believed that he was better than everyone else there, aside from the Tallests. Irkens were manufactured to believe they were perfect so that they would constantly  _ strive _ to meet the expectations they held themselves (and that others held them) to. Despite all of the things that  _ hadn’t _ gone through properly in the creation of Zim, that was one of the things that had made its way into the basic essence of who he was and it remained there, even with everything that had happened to him throughout his life. 

Even with the abundance of confidence Zim had for himself, he wasn’t stupid enough to think that issues couldn’t arise during this mission of theirs’.

Zim had never been much of a person to run through all of the negative possible outcomes of one of his plans for hours before going through with it, but, now, for the first time, he found himself unable to stop doing so. 

Perhaps it was because, for the first time, he was fully aware of the fact that nearly his entire species was against him and the weight of having such a powerful population pinned against him was finally beginning to register. Or maybe it was because of the realization that, this time, he could be executed rather than just sent off to another planet. Perhaps it was because it was not simply  _ his _ life at stake if he managed to mess this up horribly, but also the life of the person closest to him.

Regardless of  _ why _ , the nervousness he felt going into this was very much real, and, more importantly, something that he  _ absolutely needed _ to hide if he was going to pull this off. 

“Okay, GIR,” Zim began, tightly lacing his clawed fingers behind his back as he spoke, “Remember the plan. We need to stay vigilant and let on to  _ nothing _ that had happened since we left.”

Sloppily, GIR offered Zim a cheerful solute of recognition. Whether or not he truly processed those words and would hold onto them was entirely unknown to Zim, but the affirmation eased some of the apprehension he felt, nonetheless. 

Allyship was helpful, even if the ally wasn’t the most useful creature in the universe. 

Before they were too close to the Massive, Zim briefly sent a signal back to the Resisty’s Base, informing them of his proximity to the Irken Armada. Dib brought Zim even more relief by being the one to respond to his message and exchanging a few words with him. Even if their conversation lasted no longer than a few seconds, the reassuring words and casual jokes his friends threw to him over the communication device made him feel better. 

Mere moments after Zim broke the connection with Dib, he was able to board the ship. Although there was no event going on currently (as far as Zim was aware- though, admittedly, that wasn’t saying very much…) there was a great deal of commotion occurring on board. It wasn’t too chaotic, no one around him was panicking, but the unease in the air was palpable and something that he absolutely would not have picked up on mere Earth months ago. Although he couldn’t be sure, Zim couldn’t help but think that he had caused all of this (the thought of having that kind of power over the very thing that had hurt and abandoned him gave him a small spark of pride)).

With the distance between them, it wasn’t as though Dib or anyone else within the Resisty could really do anything to help Zim were he to suddenly find himself requiring their assistance. Even logically knowing that didn’t stop him from foolishly feeling better with the knowledge of the communication devices he had safely hidden on his person. A small microphone carefully sewn into the collar of his uniform to pick up noises from his end without being clearly visible to prying eyes. An equally minuscule device had been carefully attached to his antennae, allowing him to hear messages fed to him by the others, turned down quiet enough for no one else to be able to hear it (and to be quiet enough to not be cripplingly painful to hear). Unfortunately, this one was a bit trickier to be dealt with. He would likely have to remove it at some point and find a different place to put it for safe and practical use, but that was an issue he would deal with later on in time. Last but not least, concealed in the palm of his glove was a device that would allow him to control both other pieces of machinery hidden on him, turning them on and off and sending out pre-programmed messages and signals as needed. 

Even if these things wouldn’t be much of a help in last-minute unsafe situations when he needed someone on his side, they would be helpful in the long run. Even if they were small, these things were something of a secret weapon (much like he was), and would help further their mission. 

(Besides, being able to hide something like this from the others was a bit of a power trip (or, rather, Zim suspected they  _ would be _ when he was actually able to utilize them later on, but he would have to wait to confirm that).)

Quickly realizing that he couldn’t simply stand there silently if he wanted to get anywhere, he turned to the nearest Irken and began questioning them immediately, “Where are the Tallests?”

Stupidly, the Irken blinked back at him, confusion etched across their features. At the silent look they gave him, Zim felt himself scowl slightly. They hadn’t expected to see him alive, had that. 

Seeing that there clearly wasn’t an answer coming, Zim didn’t bother waiting for one and hardly gave them enough time to get one out before he spoke again, “I must speak to them immediately. Direct me to where I am at once.”

Beside him, GIR was excitedly squealing, taking in all of the sights around them. Zim wondered if the robot could even remember the Massive or any of its inhabitants. Based off of his reaction, Zim assumed he didn’t, but one could never really tell when it came to the odd little creature. 

Even with the shrieking robot, the authority Zim managed to keep in his voice got to the Irken. 

“Of course,” they shared a brief glance with another one close to them before turning back to Zim, “Right this way.”

Zim stayed a few steps behind the other person, carefully not walking so fast that he would overtake the other and fall into their line of vision. As valiant as his efforts to school his expression were, he didn’t want the other to notice any of the internal turmoil Zim was going through or notice the anger burning just below the surface. He was saving the extent of his acting abilities for when he saw the Tallests- he didn’t need to waste his energy lying to someone obsolete to their mission. 

Zim had been on many missions before all of varying difficulties and types, but nothing quite like this. Thankfully, Zim loved a challenge. The spiking anxiety deep within his bones, however, decidedly did  _ not _ like a challenge. 

Double-checking that no one else could see, Zim let his antennae drop, grabbing one in each of his hands and tugging on them softly in an attempt to ground himself, preparing for what was to come next.

Naturally, GIR picked up on this of all things, and, naturally, he had to comment on it, “Are you okay, Master?”

“Of  _ course _ I am, GIR!” Zim snapped. Immediately, he released his antennae, shooting the irken leading him along a fierce glare when they turned around to give them an increasingly concerned look. 

Almost as quickly as Zim had turned defensive, he regretted the harshness of his tone as his small SIR unit let out a forlorn whimper as if Zim had just betrayed him deeply, his eyes impossibly welling up with tears- or, at least, the closest something like GIR could get to tears.

Letting out a soft groan of annoyance, Zim dropped a hand down to GIR’s height, petting his head softly in an attempt to comfort him and ward off any outbursts. Thankfully, the irken who led them through the hallways with trepidation hadn’t dared to look back at them once more, so no one was witness to Zim’s act of weakness. 

There was a time when caring for anyone other than himself and the Tallests was something that Zim would consider weakness as well, immediately becoming disgusted with any creatures that bore such emotional tendencies. That was, of course, how Zim had been manufactured to think, and, while that hadn’t entirely worked out (like  _ so _ many other things that had gone wrong in the creation of Zim), it had been instilled in him at a young age and reinforced his entire life in the Armada. He had grown to believe feeling for others to be a weakness just as any other Irken Soldier would. 

Now, though, that seemed almost like a distant memory. Of course, even now, there were still very few people that he genuinely cared for. Nearly no one was deserving of his time and attention in such a way and he didn’t mind having to hurt a few (thousand) people for what he considered to be the greater good. There were a few that he cared for-  _ loved _ , even- now that so much time had passed and so many things had changed. 

He truly was a different person than he had been when he first left for the fake mission to take over Earth. 

Hopefully, Zim was a good enough actor to ensure that no other Irkens became aware of this incriminating fact. 

Abruptly, the Irken in front of them stopped, fidgeting slightly for a moment before gesturing towards the door they had stopped in front of, “The Tallests are right through there.”

Zim gave a curt nod and nothing more before pushing open the door.

~~~

The feeling of utter disgust one experiences when seeing something that they believed to have taken care of long ago- or should never have had to deal with in the first place- was not one that Zim was entirely unfamiliar with. It was the exact emotion he had felt upon first seeing humans and how detestably weak and idiotic the majority of them were. It was the feeling he got whenever a creature he had been experimenting on attempted (and failed) to escape his base once he brought them down there, ruining the carefully crafted experiment he had painstakingly set up. It was what Zim felt the first several times he attempted and failed at taking out Dib entirely. 

None of that quite rivalled the look of overwhelming exhaustion and irate revulsion painted across the Tallests’ face when Zim entered the door, though. 

The feeling of their shocked expressions boring into Zim’s very soul weighed on him heavily, being equal parts terrifying and exciting. Now that Zim knew how they truly felt about him and could see the situation more clearly, he felt almost proud that he had such a negative effect on them- that he was as much of a nuisance to them as they were to him. Even so, Zim wasn’t stupid enough to believe that being killed on sight by them was out of the question. Violence was  _ always _ an option with the Irken Armada.

“ _ Zim?! _ ” The two asked in near synchronicity. Something like disbelief was heavy in their voices and Zim revelled in it. 

“My Tallests!” Zim greeted, saluting them as enthusiastically as he did back when he was truly one of them, “I have returned from my mission to conquer Earth!”

The two shared a look as if they weren’t entirely sure what to do with that information and was desperate for the other to come up with something quickly. 

“Right…” Purple trailed off, eyeing him warily. 

Zim continued, not giving them the chance to say anything else (and, for once, they seemed relieved by the chance to let Zim babble as they figured everything out), “I disposed of Earth as per your instructions, entirely eliminating the threat of the “water” substance that covered the majority of the surface. With that toxic waste making up most of the planet, how useless the inhabitants were, and the lack of decent materials, I saw no point in keeping the planet around- and you didn’t answer any of my calls requesting further instructions. I took things into my own hands.”

“You actually  _ destroyed _ the planet we sent you to? Completely?” Red’s antennae twitched to the side slightly, “You left no survivors?”

“Or course not,” Zim practically scoffed at that, “If you would like to check, though, the evidence will be right in the digital reconstruction of the universes. If you search for the planet, you’ll see nothing but an empty void.”

Red snapped his fingers at one of the lesser Irkens in the room- all of whom had smartly remained silent throughout the whole ordeal, “You! Look it up. Make sure he’s telling the truth.”

As the lackey did as instructed, the Tallests entirely ignored Zim- something that would have bothered him not so long ago, but now gave him a small break from his act, no matter how minute.

It took mere moments for them to find the location of Earth, the display showing all of the information that Zim, Dib, and the other members had carefully programmed the orb around Earth to “trick” the Irken technology into seeing. 

“He is correct, Sirs,” the Irken replied meekly, looking slightly pained as they delivered this information to the Tallests, knowing it wasn’t exactly what they wanted to hear, “The planet is no longer there.”

“You’re  _ kidding me _ ,” Red all but hissed, expression deadpan.

“No, my Tallest.”

Red looked as though he was about to commit violent acts against the Irken who had delivered that information to them, but, before he could do so, Purple turned and addressed Zim once more. 

“Wait, wait, wait-”

“Yes, my Tallest?” Zim asked, keeping the trepidation from his voice as best he could. 

“Wasn’t there someone you mentioned in a call a while back?”

“Riiiight,” Red moved back over to Zim and Purple, seemingly having the same realization, “There was a creature that you wanted to bring along with you as a pet or something. What happened to that thing? Did you just let it die like everything else?”

If either of them thought that  _ that _ was going to break through Zim’s carefully constructed mission plan, then they were tragically mistaken. He wasn’t going to give up his position so easily, even if the mention of his closest friend made his organs suddenly twist in concerned discomfort.

“The human?” Zim confirmed, carefully keeping his tone level, “He was useless to me. The death was no great loss.”

“Well…” Purple began reluctantly as he forced himself to make eye-contact with Zim. His voice was strained, as if he still didn’t know what to make of the situation and was just biding his time for the moment, “Good job, Zim. We will assign you a new mission as soon as possible. For now, remain on the Massive.”

Zim offered them a smile and a polite nod before he exited the room, hearing their bickering immediately begin dully through the heavy door that swung shut behind him. His grin spread as he heard their muffled voices. He had survived the first obstacle in his way.

Once, Zim had been the Armada’s weakest link, in their eyes. Now that he was no longer their most disappointing ally, he was going to be their worst enemy.


	26. Commander

Being contained within the Resisty's ship while Zim was back with the Armada was, in far too many ways, a major disappointment to Dib. Being stuck there, unable to  _ actually _ go on any adventures was a little irritating and disheartening in and of itself, but the fact that he was there while his best friend was actively putting himself in danger, leaving Dib entirely incapable of doing anything to help Zim if he ended up needing it. 

Instead, Dib was stuck on the ship, listening in as he heard what was happening on the other end of the line, remaining poised at the control centre where the communication device was embedded in the control board. 

Despite the fact that Dib had been awake for far too long and no one else who was currently awake was still in the room with him, Dib refused to walk away and either get some rest or find something else to do. Not now. Not when his friend had so recently broken away from him to go off on a dangerous mission pretty much on his own. 

Dib stayed mostly silent as he listened in on Zim’s mission. There was nothing he could really do aside from listening, and, since Zim couldn’t really respond at the moment, as other Irkens were around, there was no real reason to try to talk to Zim or hold up a conversation with him. 

No matter. It was interesting enough to simply listen and focus on what was happening. He was, essentially, doing the same type of thing he used to do all the time back when he was still on his planet- though, admittedly, there  _ was _ a big difference between quietly pouring over research, listening to the audio logs of other people’s paranormal work and silently listening with rapt attention and concern as he was fed the information that his friend was obtaining while off on his own.

Neither of them had ever been all that good at picking up on social queues, but Dib had the feeling that Zim  _ might not _ be picking up on how uncomfortable Purple and Red sounded. 

The clear discomfort laced in their voices made Dib somewhat uncomfortable. The possibility of them simply killing him this time instead of trying to get rid of him again or giving him a second chance was not lost on Dib. 

Thankfully, they, at the very least, weren't planning on killing him immediately. 

Once it sounded like Zim was alone in a room, Dib finally spoke for the first time since his friend had landed, "Are you alright?"

Zim scoffed, "Of  _ course _ I'm alright." 

"No, he's not!" GIR shouted joyously. 

"GIR! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT NOT TELLING PEOPLE THE TRUTH ON THIS MISSION?" 

Dib snickered, the corner of his lip working up into a small half-smile, "You might want to stop shouting about your mission if you don't want to get found out."

Zim huffed, falling silent. 

"But seriously," Dib continued, "Be careful." 

" _ I'm _ not going to put us in danger," Zim insisted stubbornly, " _ GIR _ , on the other hand…"

Before Dib could say anything sarcastic in response to that, a faint sound in the other end of the line cut him off. 

Zim whispered a barely perceivable farewell to Dib before the line went silent. 

Dib let out a deep sigh in response as the line crackled into silence, the faint humming of space present for only a moment longer before disappearing entirely, leaving Dib alone to worry and wonder. 

If he was going to keep himself from impulsively ditching the Resisty ship so he could instead hunt Zim down and offer him his protection and support, he would need to find something to do to keep himself busy. 

~~~

Much like Zim, pacing his room thoughtfully, Dib, drumming his fingers in the console of the communicator nervously, and the entire Resisty, waiting anxiously with rapt attention, the Almighty Tallests had absolutely no clue what was going to happen next. 

In contrast to the popular opinion of many people in distant space, Purple and Red were not absolute idiots. They did not lack the brain cells for higher processing and were capable of forming good ideas; they were just incredibly lazy. They were the rulers of perhaps the most powerful organized civilization within the entire universe- why should  _ they _ have to do any real work? Their days as simple, lowly Invaders for the Irken Armada were long over and with it, their days of being willing to work for their safety and position in the universe (as if those days had ever  _ truly _ existed).

It had been difficult for them to come up with a course of action now that Zim was back, taking them far too long to make a decision that should have had a simple and straight-forward answer to it. 

Perhaps it was because they had grown used to not facing many dangerous problems within the Armada, or maybe it was because they didn't have the energy to deal with Zim any more, or perhaps they had some brilliant plan hidden away for how to handle the situation (though that last potential explanation seemed incredibly unlikely, all things considered). Regardless of what the motivation for their decision was, Invader Zee suspected she might never truly know- and, in all honesty, didn't really care. It wasn’t her place to care.

As long as  _ she  _ wasn’t in Zim's shoes, she didn't care. She would follow orders and nothing more, never being so bold as to question the Tallests decisions (no matter how terrible they were). 

So, distrusting the validity of their choices and worried about what would happen because of it but not willing to put her life on the line to voice her concerns, Zee summoned Zim to the Tallests so they could inform him of their decision about what would happen to him now that he had conquered and destroyed the first planet he had been sent to. 

They hoped the Tallests would just kill him this time and save everybody the trouble of dealing with the dangerously rogue Irken. Banishing formally the first time hadn’t worked and neither had sending him to a far off planet to die far away from them. They only had one option left, and Zee had the feeling that the Tallests weren’t going to take the correct course of action. The Tallests  _ needed _ to get rid of Zim permanently. 

Zee was unsure how much more of Zim's antics the Armada could take.

~~~

The feeling Zim had as he was informed of what job he would be newly entrusted with while he was here and before he was sent in his next mission was… strange, to say the least. 

Zim wouldn't have been surprised if they had banished him to a different planet again or if they had informed him of his upcoming execution so they could get rid of him and avoid having to deal with any potential irritation he could cause them. He fully expected to be, in one way or another, completely separated from the Armada. Even hearing of being demoted to the dreadfully  _ demeaning _ position of food drone wouldn't have come as much of a surprise to Zim (though it would have made him want to personally remove his own organ with a rusty scalpel if it had happened). 

What he  _ never  _ could have anticipated, however, was being put in charge of training new Irkens to take up the highly regarded position of Invader. 

It was overwhelmingly shocking to hear that he of all people was being given such an important position within the Armada. It was something that Zim could not have possibly prepared himself for, no matter how much time he had been given to prepare for such an occurrence. 

It was an important position to be given and any Irken would be honoured to be seen as such a highly regarded part of the Armada to be put in charge of training the new generations for success. Only Invaders who had truly impressed the Tallests with their skills would be placed in such a position as the one Zim was being given right now. 

The position was not as highly-regarded as that of an Invader, of course, but it was, in recent years, only Invaders of the highest positions and who reaped the best results who were given the power to do so. Typically, it was the most powerful ones being put in charge of taking care of new trainees while they were in between different missions or when they had to take either permanent or brief leave from their work as an Invader. 

Being given such a job by the Tallests personally was... an honour. Although Zim had long ago decided that he would no longer be associated with them, he felt his organ flutter with excitement and pride at the inherent power of the position. His Tallests were finally recognizing his prowess and giving him a job that would reflect it, even when he was not working on a specific mission for them. This was perhaps the closest thing Zim would ever get to receiving praise from his leaders and he let the amazing feeling wash over him as he- 

_ No _ . This was wrong. He couldn't  _ possibly _ be…

Zim was glad he had reactivated his communication device upon entering the room so that Dib could hear what was going on as well and confirm that Zim had not simply misheard what he was being told (considering the quiet sound of confusion that came faintly through the other end, it seemed as though DIb had also heard and was equally as surprised about the outcome). 

"...eh?" Zim eloquently responded after a long moment of silence following their words.

Patiently, Purple repeated what he had said just moments before, "We are awarding you the position of training the incoming round of Irkens." 

"Why?" GIR asked before Zim could say anything else (not that there was much of anything he had in mind to say to them). 

"Because," Red groaned, shooting GIR a pointed look that made the tiny robot shiver for a moment, "He is the perfect candidate for the job with how well his last mission went." 

"But it-" 

Zim grabbed GIR's antennae, ceasing his words before he could give away any important information. 

At the look the Tallests gave him, Zim offered an awkward, sheepish smile, "Sorry about my SIR Unit, my Tallests." 

"Riiight, about that..." the two of them exchanged a look as Red spoke, "We should probably give it an upgrade soon. 

Zim felt his antennae twitch uncomfortably at the very thought of them getting their claws on his poor little robot friend and harming him beyond repair. He couldn't allow them to damage GIR or alter him in the slightest. As irritating as GIR was, Zim refused to lose him- even for a mission. 

"That won't be necessary, my Tallests," Zim reassured, releasing GIR's metal antennae, "I am working on plans for his updates already. Not to worry."

Purple nodded, "Good. If that's all taken care of, then..." 

"You should go to the new recruits," Red finished, "Training can begin whenever you're ready for them, but it would be best if you at least familiarized yourself with them, now." 

Zim nodded, "Of course, my Tallests. Thank you." 

With a somewhat stiff bow, he exited the room hurriedly, GIR in tow as he made his way to his new recruits.

For the first time since the Tallests had informed Zim of his new position, Dib spoke up, "What the hell was that?" 

"I... don't know," Zim replied after scanning the hallways carefully to ensure that no one had the opportunity to overhear him.

"Are they really just going to trust you with that job after everything that's happened?" 

Zim frowned, though his tone held no malice, "You dare underestimate me, Dib-Thing?" 

"I have since day one," he teased, "But seriously. How the hell did you pull that off? Are they really that stupid? Or are we just that good?" 

"Hopefully all of the above," Zim replied, glancing around the halls once more, "I'm going to follow orders, for now. Inform the others of my new position. We can use this to our advantage, somehow, I'm sure of it." 

"We definitely can- and I'm on it. Make sure to not give yourself away. Just follow orders perfectly. We can start working on this later, but we need to wait a few days to avoid suspicion, at least." 

"Of course I will, I'm not a moron," Zim reassured. 

"And keep your mic on," Dib instructed, "I want to hear this." 

"Bored already, Dib?" 

He hummed in affirmation, "Start shit up so I won't have to be."

Zim snickered at the joke, "As you wish."

As he neared the entrance, Zim fell silent once more, signalling his position to Dib without using his words. Even if he was here under false pretences, he would enjoy this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written from my phone while it was glitching, so I apologize for any issues with the grammar in this chapter.


	27. Motivation

Confidently, Zim strode into the room he had been sent to, the heavy metal doors sliding shut behind him- GIR following along just barely moving quickly enough to not get caught in the moving door shutting behind them. 

His eyes scanned the room once the door fully closed, taking in everyone and everything around him carefully, though his solid magenta eyes didn't betray where exactly he was looking as his gaze passed over each of the cadets before him. 

The group was small, only about thirteen people there, but that didn't particularly matter to Zim- he wasn't there to help the Armada; he was here to topple it and leave it a mere shell of what it had once been. It would no longer be a powerful, towering empire dictating the state of the rest of the universe. It would crumble into nothing but dust at Zim’s feet. 

That was in the future, though.  _ Right now _ , he had to focus on what was directly in front of him. He had to focus on not coming off as too suspicious- and that meant putting his all into training the swarm of young Irkens before him. 

As though he had been actively reading his mind, Dib chimed in, “Don’t act so sketchy, Space Boy. Introduce yourself to them- or whatever it is that protocol for Irkens calls for.”

Typically, Zim wasn’t very keen on letting Dib- or most people, for that matter- tell Zim what to do and order him around. In this instance, though, Dib was right and Zim couldn’t exactly fight him on it in any way  _ without _ seeming suspicious, so he simply cleared his throat, straightened his posture, and addressed those in the room before him, “I am Invader Zim, and I will be training all of you to follow my lead on the path to bringing the Armada to greatness.”

Dib snorted into the headset at that, and Zim ignored it, holding back the urge to sigh loudly in response to his impudence. He began pacing dramatically, arms folded stiffly behind his back, claws laced together tightly as he spoke.

“You have been created for the sole purpose of bringing the Irken Armada pride through spreading its territory and power. You  _ cannot _ be weak. You  _ cannot _ be ignorant. You  _ cannot _ be vulnerable.”

He strutted around the room, carrying as much power and dignity with him as he could, circling around the new Irkens like a predator circling their prey, preparing to leap and strike them down at any moment. Several of them looked at him as though they felt exactly like that prey. Good. He was getting the reaction he wanted out of most of them; he was intimidating them, hopefully demanding respect and staying as inconspicuous as possible as he did so- just as an Irken Invader should. 

“Invaders must be more intelligent, strong, and fierce than any opponent they could ever possibly face,” Zim continued, “Failure is  _ not _ an option.”

As he spoke, GIR began following him around, pacing behind him excitedly as if he were going on some sort of adventure rather than circling around a group of young, nervous Irkens training to become the very thing they were fighting against.

“Absolutely  _ none _ of you are irreplaceable. If you do not prove yourself to be truly worthy of the title of Irken Invader and are not able to stand up to the tests of the Universe, you  _ will _ be cast aside. Whether you become a pathetic food drone or are terminated is not up to me, but failure of any kind  _ will _ result in one of the two- if not something worse.”

Zim continued circling around everyone in the room, GIR growing dizzier during the process as he continued to follow Zim dutifully. The thirteen Irkens kept their eyes trained on him carefully as if tearing their gaze from him for even a moment could result in a painful and unyielding death (a feeling that Zim remembered nearly all cadets having as they were first introduced to the world of training to become an Invader). As he circled them, they all twisted and turned their heads and bodies, tracking his motions as he went.

“The Tallests will not accept anything but absolute  _ perfection _ from their Invaders.” Zim stopped abruptly, causing GIR to crash into his legs and fall to the ground behind him, though Zim paid him no mind, continuing on as if nothing has happened and as though he hadn’t even noticed the motion, “That’s why they chose I, the Mighty  _ Zim _ to guide and teach you all.”

The grin he flashed them was predatory- much like most of the smiles that crossed Zim’s features naturally- and he did his best to make himself seem even more intimidating than he usually was, carefully bearing his teeth at the occupants of the room, eyes wide and unblinking as he looked at their small forms. 

Some small part of Zim’s mind- the rational, emotional part that the Irken Armada did its best to program out of him from birth told him that the creatures before him could hardly be anything more than smeets. They were too young to face something like this-  _ all  _ of them had been when they were first trained to be used as sentient, perfect weapons- and although Zim had rationalized it throughout his entire existence while acting as a functional member of the Armada, the realization of how strange and almost  _ wrong _ it seemed slowly crawled from the recesses of his brain. Zim wasn’t particularly fond of smeets- he never had been- but something about this situation made memories that had been buried within him long ago slowly come to life, ever so slightly. It was not quite a memory, but a feeling instead. He could almost  _ feel _ how he had felt back all those years ago when he was in this very same position. 

The memory- the  _ feeling _ of the memory- made him hate the Armada even more. It brought the bitterness to the forefront of his mind. 

Just as all of these creatures standing before him had been programmed and created specifically to act as ammunition for the Armada, Zim had been made without a thought for who he could become as a being of his own- he was nothing but a piece of weaponry for them to use and dispose of as they saw fit. He was not special to the Armada. He was not unique to them. He was not powerful. Zim was just a piece of faulty equipment that they had the burden of dealing with-  _ disposing _ of. 

Hatred burned within him curdling into a fury that must have shown on his face based on the looks the young Irkens shared with one another.

“Zim…?” Dib asked cautiously. 

“Formal training will begin tomorrow. The Tallests will accept nothing less than perfection and neither will I,” Zim announced abruptly, partially to ward off the strange stares of the barely-older-than-smeets around him, but also to avoid any questioning from Dib, “Until then, prepare yourselves.”

He didn’t bother giving them any useful information beyond that vague warning, merely exiting the room with a flourish and allowing the doors to slam shut behind him and GIR as they left. 

“Are you okay?”

Zim ignored Dib. 

~~~

Dib frowned as Zim ignored his line of questioning, letting out a sigh as he resigned himself to the fact that Zim was definitely not going to answer, meaning that he was- more importantly-  _ absolutely _ not okay. Zim was far from a quiet person. He wasn’t content unless he was the centre of attention in nearly every situation and he refused to let his voice be overlooked and ignored. His words were constantly a booming, echoing mantra, rejecting the very thought that whatever he was saying could possibly be left unhear by anyone around him. Dib cared for and loved Zim, but that didn’t mean that he was blind to the fact that Zim was an obnoxiously loud person. 

His silence almost certainly meant something. 

Of course, there was the chance that Zim had simply fallen silent because he was around others and didn’t want to run the risk of being overheard and caught. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation for the situation and it definitely made sense. 

But Dib didn’t believe it was that simple; it rarely was. 

There was no use in pushing the matter, though- at least not right now. It seemed fairly obvious that Zim wasn’t going to speak to him about this just yet, and since he had the mission to focus on and was too far away from Dib to really do anything about it regardless, he decided he would push it aside and focus on the mission as well. 

Neither of them was too comfortable or familiar with sharing their emotional difficulties with anyone and it was no secret to either of them that they shared that problem. It had been steadily getting easier for them to discuss their issues with one another and work through them, though. Dib had (at least a  _ little _ ) confidence that, whenever Zim was ready, he would open up about it- or perhaps, by the time he managed to reach that point, there wouldn’t be an issue to even speak about. 

Or the silence really was Zim avoiding messing up the mission rather than avoiding Dib and his line of question and was perfectly fine. One could always hope. 

In the meantime, there were other things Dib could focus on. 

Generally speaking, Dib was hesitant to leave the soundboard for even a moment, worried that doing so could cost them precious information and- Saturn forbid- even Zim’s life. He needed to gather the others, now, though, and since he had not yet-  _ yet _ \- connected his translator headset so he could listen to and talk to Zim while mobile, so he didn’t have many other options, at the moment. 

Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about. It took only a few seconds for Dib to ask someone he saw in the halls- an alien member that he wasn’t very familiar with, yet, but that he had seen on a few occasions (it was difficult to  _ not _ run into all of the members of the Resisty at least once while on the ship considering how obscenely and worryingly small the Resisty was)- to gather a few other members to discuss the mission. After that, it took only a few minutes before several people gathered into the room, hurrying there in their excitement to get updates on the mission that many of them had dedicated their lives to. 

Once several people- including Ixane and Lard Nar, thankfully- were crowded into the room and gazing at Dib expectantly, he filled them in on Zim’s status. 

“Zim’s been put in charge of training a group of new Irkens for the Armada. I can’t be sure, yet, because Zim hasn’t said anything specific about the group, but it didn’t seem like he’d been assigned to very many people.”

“Why would they do that?” Lard Nar asked, forehead creasing with confusion. 

“I know that the Irken Armada itself is really dangerous, but the Tallests seem kind of… stupid,” Dib said slowly. Admittedly, he hadn’t seen or heard much from them, but there were definitely a few things they had done that seemed…  _ incredibly idiotic _ , “I don’t know what their motivation for it is, but we can  _ definitely _ use this to our advantage somehow.”

“Have him teach them to hate the Tallests and the Armada,” one suggested. 

“That’s definitely what we want to shoot for, but I think we have to be more subtle about it- these people have been brainwashed their entire lives to follow the rule of the Tallests.  _ One _ radical, rogue Irken probably isn’t going to change all of their minds so easily.”

“You could have him do a horrible job of training them so they don’t help the Armada at all?”

“That’s a possibility, but I’m not sure how much it would help since the Armada is so big…” Dib trailed off. 

“I  _ still _ don’t understand why they would give him that position when he’s proven himself to be such a hazard to the Armada,” Ixane squinted from under their cloak hood. 

“We don’t have enough information to figure that out, yet,” Dib shook his head, thinking it over, “We need to be cautious about this, but we can’t be morons and pass up this opportunity just because we don’t understand it. This could seriously benefit us- we  _ have _ to use it to its full extent.”

Dib wasn’t going to attempt to claim that he understood why the Tallests would make a decision like that and willingly give Zim a position that- at least  _ sounded _ as though it would- give him a great deal of power while he was there. He didn’t understand, and he didn’t believe in fate enough- or at all- to claim that  _ that _ was the explanation to the situation. 

Regardless of  _ why _ , though, they were outnumbered. The Armada had numbers, technology, weaponry, supplies, and endless other things against them that the Resisty just didn’t have. 

They didn’t stand a chance unless they were bold and took  _ every _ chance they saw. 

They needed this if they were to win. 

~~~

“Do you  _ really _ think this will work?” Purple was hesitant to allow Zim to do  _ anything _ within the Armada with all of the trouble he’d caused them over the years of him working with them. It seemed like a horrible idea- and one that wouldn’t even be fun for them considering he was too close for them to be able to harass and berate him without him having any impact on the Armada. Getting rid of him seemed  _ so _ much easier. 

“You’ve  _ seen _ how pathetically eager to please he is,” Red countered, a confident smirk on his face, “He will do anything to get attention- he’s like a defective smeet.”

“Well  _ obviously _ , but don’t you think he’ll…  _ try _ something?”

“What could he possibly do while he’s stuck  _ here _ looking after a group of equally pathetic and unqualified smeets? He’s stuck with the worst of the worst and tasked with making them into something that none of them could ever be. He isn’t going to get anywhere.”

“You really think it could be that  _ easy _ ?” Purple was sceptical, “He  _ destroyed  _ the fucking planet we sent him to “conquer”. He’s clearly still as destructive as before.”

“That’s why we’re giving him a  _ safe _ job here,” Red replied easily, “Besides- we can still mess around with him like this  _ and _ we’re still here to keep him in check. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Try telling that to the troops we lost because of him during Impending Doom  _ One _ ,” Purple muttered, narrowing his eyes. 

“Things have changed since then,” Red responded flippantly, sounding mildly irritated that Purple would dare question the validity of his statement, annoyed that he had to explain himself to his co-leader, “Now, we  _ know  _ how to use his pathetic desire to make us happy against him- and we know how far he’s willing to go. He came back because he wanted our praise for what he did. We have  _ nothing _ to worry about.” 

“And if he’s  _ actually _ up to something and came here to get revenge?”

Red burst out laughing, “Zim’s too stupid to know what we were really trying to do. He  _ clearly _ can’ take a hint. And besides, if he  _ did _ come here to get revenge on us, then giving him a power trip like  _ this _ is just going to convince him that we ‘care’ about him and his ‘contributions’ to the Armada. If he thinks we  _ actually _ respect and need him, then he’s going to change his mind.”

“Fine,” Purple conceded, “But if he steps out of line, we are  _ killing _ him. I’m not taking any more chances.”

“Perfect.”


	28. Where We Go Next

To keep himself busy, Dib decided to take on other missions of the Resisty’s to help along with the main mission- and to keep himself from going insane while confined to a chair in the main room, doing very little other than briefly speaking with and listening to Zim rather than being out in the universe, actually  _ doing something _ . Dib had always had a bit of a tendency to grow stir-crazy when there wasn’t much he could focus on or physically do and those tendencies seemed to be heightened even further in his current situation, his hunger for knowledge and adventure absolutely devouring him beyond the point of being able to simply ignore it. It didn’t help that Dib also felt somewhat useless at the moment with Zim out there, risking his life and putting himself in a situation that would be uncomfortable and emotionally taxing at best and could cost him his life at worst. 

Perhaps potentially putting his  _ own _ life at risk wasn’t the best way to deal with that, but Dib wasn’t always the most rational person, so he wasn’t going to let that stop him by any means. 

Of course, there was the ever-present concern that Zim would end up needing Dib’s help- or that one of them would simply want to talk to one another- that attempted to hinder his desire to go out on an adventure of his own (perhaps  _ “adventure” _ wasn’t the best term for something like this- something that was a step towards bettering your chances in a nearly unwinnable war- but it was in  _ space _ so Dib absolutely  _ refused _ to believe that it would be anything other than absolutely intriguing and thrilling regardless of the circumstances surrounding it).

That was why Dib  _ finally _ connected his translation headset to the mainboard, allowing him to continue speaking with Zim even if he wasn’t back at the Resisty ship to do so himself. 

It wasn’t that Dib didn’t  _ trust _ the other people in the ship (well… it wasn’t  _ completely _ because Dib didn’t trust the others- some of them  _ were _ rather reliable and capable), but there was a part of him that new, regardless of their strange relationship and the rocky start that it had, Dib would never be able to forgive himself if he wasn’t able to help Zim during this. 

That wouldn’t stop him from going off on his own from time to time, though. Dib wasn’t going to just sit there and worry from afar without actually doing anything. He was going to contribute to the current mission- or, at the very least- the current state of the Resisty. 

Luckily for him, the Resisty was in need of resources and, more importantly, someone who was willing and able to head out to retrieve them. 

Although not every member of the Resisty was an incredibly brilliant and powerful warrior who could topple empires, there  _ were  _ several of them in the ship and all of them required the basic resources that most living creatures would need.

It was small but important and Dib was eager to actively do  _ something _ productive while there, so he volunteered the moment Lard Nar mentioned that resources were needed. 

Either fortunately or unfortunately depending on whether Dib was thinking rationally or focused on the thrill, there wasn’t much that he needed to do. All that was required of him was travelling to an allied planet that had the resources they needed and was willing to donate them to the members of the Resisty. The task would only take a couple of hours at most and would demand  _ very _ little of him- mainly just piloting a smaller ship to the planet and then momentarily speaking to the residents there before returning to the ship with the things they needed.

It was a simple mission that lacked much danger. For now, though, Dib was happy to start off small- especially since this was something that  _ needed _ to be done for the success and survival of the Resisty. He didn’t have as much at his disposal as he did when he was travelling with Zim and he didn’t want to stray so far from them that he wouldn't be able to return and help within a short span of time if necessary, so he had no complaints about being sent on such a seemingly mundane task. 

Besides, how could  _ anything _ be mundane while in a situation like his current one?

He would be returning to the place that had somewhat altered the course of he and Zim’s initial mission and put them where they were now, even if indirectly. 

_ Vahliat. _

~~~

It had been quite some time since Zim had participated in cadet training himself. The task that he had been given was merely the first of many “levels” of training that one would have to go through to become a proper Invader- or  _ anything _ of any worth to the Armada, in fact. Even if Zim had  _ just _ graduated from training, this specific section of it that he was in charge of would be  _ years _ away from him in his past. Zim’s experience with the Armada hadn’t been so linear, though. 

There was the time where Zim had acted as a scientist for the Armada, lasting several years before he ended up  _ actually _ going on missions meant for an Invader. Then, there were the few missions he had gone on before Impending Doom One- the biggest mission he had been sent on at that time and the one that landed him in unfortunate banishment for several years of his life. Not to mention, there was the time he spent actually  _ getting _ to Earth and then the time he spent on the surface of the planet, actually working on his supposed “mission”. 

A great deal of time had passed between then and now and he couldn’t quite recall the details of what would be expected of him- or the Irkens he was training, for that matter. No one had given him any details or prompted him on what to do, either, simply expecting him to know what to do- and Zim was  _ far _ above asking anyone about it, unwilling to show any sort of weakness or uncertainty. 

Instead, Zim decided to wing it. 

Perhaps it wasn’t the  _ best _ course of action, but Zim didn’t exactly have any resources he could use to look into what he  _ should _ be doing without looking suspicious or idiotic. Despite the fact that Zim now knew how the other Invaders saw him, he refused to do anything that might further worsen their opinions of him, regardless of the fact that he no longer truly cared what they thought of him (he needed to stay in their good graces so no one would find him suspicious, Zim told himself), so asking someone was out of the question. Digging through past logs of training to gather basic information would take  _ hours _ to do considering how much useless information he would have to comb through to get to anything that could  _ actually _ be beneficial to him,  _ and _ it would look sketchy, so that wasn’t a possibility either. 

There may have very well been better alternatives to his plan- and simply asking someone likely wouldn’t have been  _ too _ bad considering how most of them already viewed him- but he didn’t have the time nor inclination to toy around with any other possibilities. 

He would just have to do what he remembered from his own past training (Zim hoped that things would begin coming back to him in more distinct detail as he began actually working on doing so, muscle memory reminding him of the past), and fill in the missing spaces with things that seemed logical to teach someone working for the Armada… or things that would benefit Zim’s overarching mission for the Resisty. 

Thankfully, no matter how limited, Zim had been allotted time to plan and prepare for training the younger Irkens, and given a small space separated from the others so he could have peace. He took the time to do everything he could to remember the past and filling in the details he couldn’t recall perfectly with things that  _ seemed _ correct. He even called upon GIR to assist him with brainstorming potential courses of action. 

It wasn’t particularly helpful, but it was appreciated nonetheless.

“Teach ‘em how to kill people.”

“That isn’t very specific, GIR,” Zim sighed, “But, yes, that is the gist of it.”

GIR didn’t seem to even process the fact that Zim wasn’t exactly pleased with his answer, simply wagging his tail in response as if he were a real Earth dog- GIR  _ still _ refused to remove his disguise fully, despite the fact that they were back on the Massive. 

“There’s way more to being an Invader than  _ just _ killing people. It’s about learning your target, discovering everything there is to know about the world you’ve been sent to so that you can best take it over. It’s about getting into the minds of the inhabitants and absolutely  _ destroying _ them,” Zim smiled slightly at the brief memory of he and Dib trying to do that exact thing to one another while they were back on the human’s home planet, “Even killing people isn’t that simple. There are so many ways to go about it. We have to give them  _ useful _ information.”

“Aren’t we trying to kill them smeets, though?”

“The-  _ no _ , GIR, we’re not trying to kill the  _ smeets _ ,” Zim groaned, “And you can’t say those things, remember? No one can know what we’re doing or it won’t go well. We need the element of surprise on our side.”

“Like a surprise party?” 

“Er, yes. With a lot of violence.”

GIR seemed absolutely  _ delighted _ by that.

“That’s not what we’re focusing on now, though. To make sure that this  _ remains _ a surprise for the others, we must continue to act as though we are allied forces. Do you understand?”

GIR simply shrugged, humming a senseless tune that Zim couldn’t place. 

Zim has the sinking feeling that GIR would be the thing to ruin their mission. Hopefully, the Tallests would take anything GIR said about his own mission as nonsensical ramblings-  _ that _ wasn’t very far-fetched, at least. 

“To put it simply, GIR, they need to think we’re their…  _ friends _ so that we can do what we need to do. To succeed with this, we need to do this nice thing for them,” Zim tried his best to explain it to his little robot friend in a way that would get through to him. 

“So the surprise party goes well?”

“Yes. So the surprise party goes well.”

“Oooh!” GIR squealed, “Do what you did with Mary back home!”

“ _ Home _ ?” Zim squinted quizzically. He supposed it made sense for GIR to consider Earth a home to him- he hadn’t been alive long enough to see much more than that planet before they arrived there. Still… 

“Yeah! Do sciency things with them so they think you’re friends,” GIR surmised, “Then maybe you’ll end up  _ actually _ being best friends like Mary!”

That  _ was _ somewhat what they were going for, at least, “You’re suggesting I have them focus on the scientific aspects of becoming Invaders during training, and in doing so, attempt to grow closer bonds with those I am training so that they are more susceptible to joining us?”

GIR hummed confidently in confirmation, though there was a distant look in his eyes that told Zim the SIR Unit likely wasn’t entirely following what he was saying.

He supposed the robot had a point- that  _ would _ be something that would make sense for them to be trained in and it could potentially help them a great deal if they  _ were _ able to add this new group of Irkens to their efforts in the Resisty. Plus, Zim’s past in science would make it rather easy and would make sense to anyone watching Zim’s moves carefully because they were suspicious. As far as the “getting attached to them” aspect went, Zim couldn’t see himself getting very close to many irkens ever again- not with what had happened before- but GIR  _ did _ have a point. If he was close to them and they trusted him entirely, they would be more likely to join the Resisty’s efforts. It made sense.

GIR’s off-handed suggestion was a decent one, he had to admit. 

Zim took a deep breath before offering up a smile, “Good job, GIR.”


	29. First Day of Training

Considering they had already made the trip once- albeit under slightly different circumstances- Dib had little difficulty getting to Valiaht. He had, just like the time previously, taken he and Zim’s ship, despite the protests from Lard Nard that he should just take one of the smaller ships that they had at the base that were already obviously stamped with the Resisty’s logo and would be received well by the citizens of Valiaht immediately. Dib refused to listen, though, instead opting to take their ship regardless of the potential issues it could bring with it. The ship was his (partially- they sort of co-parented the ship, Dib supposed), and besides, Computer would be able to make the trek there flawlessly while Dib could get lost without Computer’s guidance (even if the sentient piece of machinery  _ was _ a bit of a nuisance). 

Dib didn’t know whether or not it was a good idea for  _ him _ to be returning to Valiaht considering the fact that, the last time he was there, he had ended up getting thrown into a prison cell without a second thought. As he had proven to everyone around him on numerous occasions, though,  _ knowing _ that something was a bad idea very  _ rarely _ stopped Dib Membrane. 

Plus Dib thought it would be fun to see the interesting planet again  _ without _ winding up in jail… and showing the people there that locking him up had been a fatal flaw. It would  _ definitely _ be funny to see how they reacted to the knowledge that he was a member of the Resisty. 

“I wouldn’t point this out to you under any other circumstances, but, knowing that Master will  _ not _ stop complaining if I let you get yourself killed here, I’m not going to stay silent and watch,” Computer cut in when they were nearing the surface once more, “You should be careful if you don’t want something bad to happen.”

Dib merely snorted, “Oh come on. What could possibly happen?”

Dib had  _ not _ anticipated them attempting to incapacitate him and throw him in jail once more the  _ moment _ he stepped off the ship and set foot on the surface of the planet, not even waiting long enough for the door of the ship to close entirely before attacking him again. 

Thankfully, this time, it was not a massive tree ent that attacked him, bludgeoning him into unconsciousness.  _ Unfortunately _ , the flower creature that  _ did _ come for Dib had insane vines for arms rather than what seemed to be the typical leaf-like structures that the others had, and it wrapped those vines around Dib’s throat in a deathly-tight grip. They weren’t just trying to incapacitate him this time; they were trying to  _ kill _ him. 

That was irritating. 

“I  _ tried _ to warn you,” Computer drawled from inside, sounding as though he felt Dib was personally inconveniencing him with the situation

With a well-placed kick (though, with his lack of knowledge on the anatomy of these creatures, Dib didn’t know whether he had gotten lucky with a hit to a specific organ of theirs or if the hit had just been hard enough to hurt the creature) and a great deal of thrashing, Dib managed to wiggle his way out of the vice-like grip the flower had him in. 

“Wait a minute- wait a minute!” Dib shouted, holding up his hands defensively and backing up as the creature attempted to advance on him once more, “I’m not here to hurt you- and I never was.”

There was a  _ small _ part of Dib that, admittedly, wanted to fight back and do so violently. Generally speaking, Dib’s Fight or Flight response almost always had the same response and that was the most violent one. He had never been one to back down from a fight or an opportunity to prove himself in any way possible, even if that meant a little blood was shed. 

This wasn’t the  _ most ideal _ time for violence, though, and Dib knew that. As much as he was willing to do things that could have potentially detrimental outcomes, he wasn’t  _ that _ stupid. He didn’t need to alienate (pun intended) himself further from those of the Resisty and the Resisty couldn’t afford to lose  _ any _ of their allies- even if Dib wasn’t sure how helpful this supposedly “peaceful” species would be to them. 

“Lard Nar sent me,” Dib explained before anyone could make a move. Much like the first time he had arrived, there were several people gathered around (considering how little technology they had on their planet and how quiet it seemed to be there, he supposed that made sense- a ship of  _ any _ kind would draw attention if people weren’t particularly familiar with it, especially if it was a loud one), and some of them were even ones that Dib recognized from his first time on that planet (including that  _ bitch _ Vervain). He didn’t know whether that would work in his favour or against it, but he hoped for the best, “I’m here to pick up supplies for the Resisty. He said he sent some sort of communication to you to let you know ahead of time.”

Silently, the creatures looked at one another, seeming to deliberate the fact without speaking at all. Dib couldn’t help but wonder whether they were staying silent to not tip Dib off and simply trying to communicate via facial expressions and body language or if they were actually capable of communicating with one another through some sort of telepathy or hive mind (it  _ would _ make sense for the mushroom-like creatures to be able to do that). 

Eventually, Vervain ( _ ugh _ ) stepped forward to confront Dib, “Lard Nar  _ did _ inform us that someone would be coming. He failed to mention that it would be…  _ you _ , though.”

“I don’t think he anticipated needing to tell you guys exactly who was coming in order to prevent you from trying to  _ kill _ them,” Dib glared. 

“It seems unlikely that you would just so  _ happen _ to end up here again after the first attempt where you came here with an Irken.”

“I don’t know what you think I would gain from hurting this planet or the people here, but I have no violent intent.”

“Irken Invaders don’t  _ need _ a reason.”

“I am  _ not  _ an Irken,” Dib defended, “And he isn’t one, either, anymore.”

Just like before, the creatures looked from one another, somewhat stunned and apprehensive silence falling between them for a moment before Vervain looked back to Dib and broke it, “What do you mean?”

“It’s not a particularly complicated situation,” Dib shot back, “Zim used to be part of the Armada but he left them and joined the Resisty with me.”

Before their conversation could grow any more heated or lengthy, another flowering creature stepped forth. This one was not entirely unlike Vervain, but clearly a very different type of flower than they were. This one had a stalk for the lower half of its body and torso like the majority of them with a larger cluster of medium flowers perched atop the stalk, smaller stalks branching from the centre one to each hold one of the flowers. The flowers themselves had a small amount of large, overlapping petals of a bright peach colour with a lighter yellow towards the centre of the petals. The petals were spotted with small, brown, elongated markings that shifted slightly every now and then-  _ eyes _ Dib realized. 

“If he was here to hurt us, he would have done something already- and he would have come with backup.”

Vervain didn’t seem convinced, “Why were you here the first time, then?”

“Coincidence. I didn’t  _ have _ a reason then, I just so happened to stumble upon the wrong planet.”

“Likely story,” Vervain sounded unimpressed. 

“ _ This _ -” the other one gestured around them vaguely, “Doesn’t require this much arguing. It’s obvious that he’s the one that Lard Nar was talking about- he even has the hair and the big head like he mentioned.”

“Hey!” Dib snapped defensively, “My head is  _ not _ that big- and you said that he  _ hadn’t _ said anything about who was coming.” Dib glared at Vervain in an accusatory manner, though he wasn’t sure how well he made his point considering their anatomical differences.

Vervain remained silent and the other one seemed to take that as a reason to continue speaking, “I’m Alstroemeria.” 

“I’m Dib,” he offered a hand for Alstromeria to shake but they just hesitated for an awkward moment before lightly slapping one of their leaf appendages against his hand, clearly unsure what to do in response to the action, “Uhh… thanks.”

“We’ll give you the provisions,” they promised, “Follow me. We can find a few others to help you load everything onto your contraption.”

~~~

With the way that Zim led his group of Irken Invaders in training, no one would ever have guessed that he didn’t know what he was doing, or that he had been estranged from the entire Irken race for several years prior to this. Anyone watching him would have assumed that he was just a normal member of the Irken Armada. He was shockingly good at slipping into the headspace of any normal Irken Invader in his position. 

It was almost as though he had never left. 

Admittedly… that might have been an issue, how easily he fell into the role, as if it were almost second nature for him, but he just told himself that it was because he was an amazing actor. He was just doing this to protect himself, his best friend, and the Resisty. There was nothing else to it. 

He  _ did _ have to admit, though: it  _ was _ nice to seem to have the respect of the younger Irkens who he was training. Unlike so many of the people that he had worked with in the past, these ones actually listened to what he said and took his suggestions. Perhaps it was because he was actually one of their higher-ups or because they were intimidated by him, but, either way, he appreciated it. He appreciated that they listened to him, seemingly finding meaning in his words. 

Although Zim didn’t upon seeing them for the first time, he began to bother learning what their names were during the first technical “meeting” they all had- though he resolved to not let them know that until they had done something particularly impressive (something that his own trainers had done in the past, though Zim was certain that they  _ actually _ didn’t bother learning their names until they had proven themselves while he was just doing it for show).

Aside from his attitude towards the situation and how he treated it, Zim  _ did _ stray from what would be considered typical during training like this. They had, essentially, given Zim free reign of the training, though, so he didn’t care about that. It didn’t matter if he was following protocol perfectly (not that he  _ knew _ what the protocol was) so long as they were getting somewhere. 

And Zim had the feeling that they were going to.

They were incredibly nervous (aside from one  _ very _ obnoxious and intense one who threw herself into it entirely (good for her, Zim supposed, it was a bit impressive)), but they were still trying their hardest, regardless, that much was clear. The way they looked at him with awe, carefully considering his words not only fed into his already massive (but bruised) ego but also told Zim that creating little soldiers for the Resisty perhaps  _ wouldn’t _ be all that difficult.

They had already endured some more physical training- though it wasn’t very rigorous- and were now merely gathered together in a clump in the room Zim had been assigned to use for their training. All of them were waiting with rapt attention for his next words. 

“Something just as important as brute force is the capability of getting into your enemy’s head. If you can figure out what makes them work, you can figure out what will take them down,” Zim explained, “You won’t need to do this for your weaker and dumber foes, but it will be incredibly helpful for taking down highly intelligent ones or entire civilizations. Try to work on that.”

“Commander Zim? How exactly are we supposed to practice doing that when we don’t have any enemies at our disposal?” One of the quieter ones asked.

“There are  _ always _ enemies around,” Zim countered before quickly covering up his words and shooting them a grin, “For now, though, try it out on your comrades. Find their weaknesses. It’s a good thing to know, even if you never use it.”

All of them nodded sagely before leaving as instructed.

Even if this training  _ wasn’t _ successful (which Zim  _ refused _ to consider as a possibility) and these Irkens  _ weren’t _ going to help the Resisty’s attempts, he would get  _ some _ fun out of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while on a caffeine high. I'll get more into detail with Zim training the others and how THAT works out next chapter.


	30. Little Invaders

Dib had entirely expected this to be another trap just like the first time he had arrived on Valiaht and been offered kindness and assistance. He had been crossed before by many people in the past- this species being a  _ very _ obvious and recent example- so he wouldn’t have been surprised (though he  _ would _ have been at least mildly irritated and exhausted) if that had been the case. Considering how poorly things had gone the prior time visiting there and how…  _ interesting _ his landing on the planet this time was around, he followed Alstroemeria cautiously as they led him into the depths.

Alstroemeria remained true to their word, though, and led him to an underground chamber stocked with food. 

The provisions were split up in different sections, each area labelled with words that Dib couldn’t read, but assumed represented information relating to where those specific supplies would be going to. Tables carved of stone were piled high with several varieties of food from fruit and vegetables (Dib couldn’t help but wonder exactly how  _ that _ worked on their planet) to things that looked and smelt like bread and pastries. The majority of the food heaped onto the tables were carefully wrapped in thin, waxy pieces of paper, though there were still several tables of food that still hadn’t been attended to in that way yet. 

“So… are there other people you send food and stuff to?”

“There aren’t a lot of others that we reach out to with our help, but some of our allies from other planets occasionally need our assistance,” they explained as they paced over to one of the pedestals holding a large portion of carefully packaged foodstuffs, “There is little else we can help with- we’re not a particularly technologically advanced race nor are we interested in fighting anyone- and we’re not very capable in that area either- so this is the best way we can help the majority of our allies.”

Briefly, they called out into another room- a small corridor that seemed to branch off into several smaller ones from there, asking a few others to join them and help with loading up Dib’s ship for travel. 

Two other plant-like creatures emerged from another room down the hallway- one like a spotted mushroom and one that looked almost like a chrysanthemum- and began helping them gather supplies from the table that Alstroemeria directed them to. With their longer, vine and leaf-like arms at their disposal, they were all able to carry far more than Dib was, all three of them gathering a great number of packages into their arms before following Dib (with his own meagre stack of foods in his arms) back to his ship. 

They continued to remain peaceful as they helped Dib out, and he took that as a sign that this species was (hopefully) beginning to warm up to him, even if he  _ was _ an outsider with a strong affiliation with an Irken. It was clear that, despite the fact that they were a supposedly peaceful and physically incompetent species, they could hold their own against those who posed threats to them- even someone like Dib, who had a decent amount of experience with violent and intense physical altercations with  _ far _ more technologically advanced and skilled in battle than they were. They likely could have taken him down by now if they truly wanted to and saw him as a threat- especially since he was now there all alone and wouldn’t have GIR or Zim to help him out if he needed to make an escape. 

He hoped that meant that he wouldn’t have to deal with fighting these people any more- and, truthfully, he also hoped that it meant he could potentially form some friendships with the creatures on this planet (and learn more about the strange nature of the unknown orb he was currently standing on). 

“Considering how things went the first time you were here, I assume you’re new to the Resisty?” Alstroemeria asked. 

Dib nodded, simply lightly kicking the door of the spaceship to get it to open up and calling for Computer’s help in doing so so he wouldn’t have to deal with freeing his arms to pry the door open himself, “Yeah, I am. It was… a kind of sudden thing.”

“Oh? Most people who join forces with the Resisty- or become their allies like us- do it because they have had some negative experiences with the Irken Armada in the past.”

“Well… I have  _ somewhat _ had negative experiences with them,” Dib continued, following them back to make their second trip to retrieve the food, “My friend was an Irken Invader before we got close. He was sent to destroy my planet.”

“I take it he had a change of heart.”

“You could say that. We grew closer over time and, eventually, we became really close friends. He helped me out with something really important to me and now I’m… returning the favour, I guess.” Dib shrugged, “The Armada didn’t treat him very well and he’s sort of exacting his revenge upon them for everything they’ve done.”

“Attempting to take down an entire dictatorship seems like… a bit more than simply 'returning a favour’.”

“That’s… just what friends do, I guess.” Dib didn’t exactly have much experience as far as friendship went, Zim was really the first friend he had ever had and their relationship was abnormal enough that he didn’t really think it could compare to most “normal” friendships. Still, helping Zim out- even with something ridiculously big and intense like this seemed natural with how close they were and how much Dib cared about Zim (and suspected the alien cared about him as well), “Besides, he isn’t the only one getting anything out of this. I’m not exactly on good terms with the Armada either and I get the adventure I’ve always wanted out of this situation. It’s a win-win.”

Alstroemeria made a strange noise from within the centre of their petals: something that sounded like a whirring, buzzing noise. It was almost like they were humming in agreement of what Dib had said and it was only then that Dib began to truly wonder what type of anatomy they had that would allow for creating such noises; they couldn’t possibly have vocal cords like he did, could they? Would-

“I hope that you get everything you want out of this… ‘ _ adventure _ ’ of yours.”

Dib nodded as he set down the last of the packages he had been carrying, briefly waving good-bye to the other two who had come to help, who were now exiting the ship and quickly heading back to doing whatever they had previously been working on. 

“I hope so, too.”

Dib pivoted so he could head back into the ship once more and make his way back home, but Alstroemeria stopped him before he could do so.

“Before you go, Dib,” Alstroemeria stooped down slightly to meet Dib’s height, lightly laying one of their leaf-like hands upon his shoulder and directing their flowery head at him in a way that conveyed they were attempting to stare at him intently, “Even if your friend is not here with you, keep him with you. A friendship like yours is the purest form of love- love without any strings attached. Look out for one another.”

Dib blinked, somewhat taken aback by their abrupt words. Still, he nodded dumbly in response, “Yeah… I will.”

“Visit again soon. We’ll do what we can to help if you ever need it.”

With that, the heavy metal doors of the ship shut and Dib began making his short journey back to the Resisty’s ship.

Perhaps he would make good on their offer and return to their planet, even if he didn’t technically  _ need _ to.

~~~

Zim had, for very good and obvious reasons, been mildly concerned about GIR coming along with him. Although he felt as though it was absolutely  _ imperative _ for the little robot to come along with him, refusing to leave him behind for  _ any _ reason, there was still the glaring possibility of GIR posing problems for him and his current secret mission against the Armada. Not only could GIR let their secret slip to  _ anyone _ , but their almost friendly interactions could be very telling to onlookers and could easily come off as suspicious. 

What Zim had  _ not _ anticipated was GIR becoming such an obstacle in training and in the specific way that he had managed to do so ( _ honestly _ , why was the SIR Unit so  _ creative _ with his weird, destructive tendencies?).

GIR getting in the way via very literal means wasn’t exactly what Zim imagined when he logically- not  _ nervously _ , Zim was never  _ nervous _ \- went through all of the potential outcomes of this situation and how things could theoretically go for them there. In all of his daydreaming (if you could call something so morbid as thinking about destroying your very own species “daydreaming”), Zim had never anticipated GIR getting in the way by literally tripping his trainees as they attempted to run through an obstacle course that had been set up for them.

GIR had run directly under one of them- Squeaks- causing her to tumble forward, rolling over herself several times in a sort of chaotic summersault before she pinwheeled into yet  _ another _ trainee- Zao- taking them down with her and causing both of them to fall of the side of the gradually thinning ledge they were on and causing them to both plummet several feet into a vat of liquid beneath them (a substance that was similar to water on Earth, but,  _ obviously _ non-toxic for Irkens). 

Single-handedly, GIR had managed to completely take out two whole new trainees in one fell swoop, doing so completely unintentionally and entirely because he had wanted to go “play” with them.

Really, it was sad to watch.

...and quite hilarious. 

Once they surfaced, Zao glared at Squeaks, splashing some of the liquid at her in what Zim could only assume was some weak plan of vengeance against the other young cadet. It took mere seconds for it to fall into a horrible form of “water” combat, each of them thrashing around in the liquid and making their best attempts to soak the other- as if GIR hadn’t already taken care of that for them.

It truly  _ was _ like they were smeets.

Zim didn’t bother stopping himself from bursting out laughing at their expense- he  _ did _ , however, have to stop GIR from leaping into the water and joining them in their little play fight. 

“Squeaks! Zao! That’s enough!”

They both jumped slightly- their movements slowed by the substance surrounding them- but they said nothing, merely shooting one another looks before swimming to the ledge and heaving themselves out.

Once more, GIR tried to leap in after them, but Zim held onto him tightly, keeping him in place to prevent him from launching himself directly into the liquid beneath. Though it likely wouldn’t damage any of GIR’s wiring- especially with the “disguise” that he still wore- Zim didn’t particularly want to deal with GIR getting himself into trouble involving any sort of liquid (he had learned to avoid that the hard way). 

GIR flailed his arms and legs dramatically, squirming in Zim’s steadfast grip in an attempt to free himself from his small prison, whining in distress. 

Zim let out a huff of breath, “GIR, you can play with them later.”

“Really?” The small robot looked up at him pleadingly and Zim felt inclined to agree and just hope that he forgot before he made Zim make good on his promises. 

Before he could talk, though, the Invaders in training closest to him all spoke up almost at once, their synchronized question echoing GIR’s.

“Really?” 

Zim blinked hard once, confused by their reaction, “Er… yes, I suppose you could.”

Zao grinned, clearly pleased with the outcome of the situation and GIR squealed in response. 

Carefully, Zim picked his way through the course, returning to the resting place he had perched on to watch the others as they ran it, shouting pointers at them whenever the need struck. The cadets seemed to take the small distraction in their training as a sign to gather over there as well, swarming over to Zim as he drew nearer. They all seemed fascinated by GIR and immediately began chattering about him the moment they drew near enough, a few of them stroking his fur the way one might pet a dog or checking his oculars to see how he worked. 

Zim frowned, “Alright- ALRIGHT, get back to work, now! You can look at him later on.”

Clearly not wanting to listen, but too scared (or too smart) to go against Zim and his wishes, they all complied, heading back to their respective areas to complete whatever tasks they had been working on prior to the distraction- Zao this time forcing Squeaks to go before them on the obstacle course set up for them so she wouldn’t take them down this time as she did previously. 

It didn’t take long for the majority of them to fall into a sort of rhythm with whatever they were focused on. This time, Zim held onto GIR, preventing him from wandering off and getting in the way of those actually training. 

“I think I like this,” GIR commented, swinging his legs back and forth, “I like these friends.”

Zim hummed in affirmation, looking out at all of them. It was too soon to tell- Zim didn’t warm up to people as quickly and easily as GIR did- but he got the feeling that he would, with time, feel the same way. This was like an experiment, but on a much larger scale than his typical ones, and he couldn’t help but view it with the same excitement and care that he viewed his typical experiments. 

He hoped he wasn’t growing attached to  _ these _ creatures as well- Dib and GIR were already enough for him and he didn’t know how much more love he could handle. 


End file.
